'Don't know if he..': Virat Kohli's childhood coach breaks silence on India batter's exclusion from SL T20Is

The BCCI has announced the Indian squads for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka, which begins on January 3. Many prominent players are missing from the T20I team. Former India captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul are not in the T20I squad, but will play in the ODI series. Hardik Pandya will captain the team, with Suryakumar Yadav assisting him.

Despite being the second-highest run-scorer for Team India in T20Is in 2022, Virat Kohli was not selected for the T20I squad that would face Sri Lanka. 

In T20Is this year, Kohli has 781 runs in 20 matches at an impressive average of 55.78. He was also the leading run-scorer in the just concluded T20 World Cup 2022, scoring 296 runs in six matches with an excellent average of 98.66. With all of the statistics in mind, cricket fans and experts are debating whether Kohli was dropped or rested.

Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma shared his views on India News Sports on Wednesday and said, "There is still no clarity regarding his exclusion from the T20 squad. Since there is no official e-mail or any confirmation over the same, we don't know if he has been dropped, or if he himself asked for rest. I don't think it's right to say that he has been dropped”.

"There is no major T20 competition coming up, and there is still a lot of time left for the next World Cup. These guys were there for the Test matches in Bangladesh, and most of them are also available for the ODI series against Sri Lanka," he added.

"Virat Kohli might have been given rest as a lot of other senior players aren't in the T20 team either. The team management has rested these guys and given the youngsters an opportunity. I don't think they would replace players like them without having any conversations with them," said Rajkumar.

In January of next year, India and Sri Lanka will face off in three T20Is and the same number of ODIs. On January 3, the T20I series will begin in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.

India's T20I squad for Sri Lanka series: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (vice captain), Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar.

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