Even though India played two T20I bilateral series after the major event, Virat Kohli hasn’t played for India in T20Is since the 2022 T20 World Cup. At the 2022 T20 World Cup, Kohli scored the most runs with a total of 296 in six games. In four of those contests, he recorded half-centuries. His ongoing absence from the T20I team has raised concerns about his future in the competition. During the pre-match press conference prior to India’s third ODI against New Zealand, the topic was brought up once more. Rahul Dravid, the head coach of India, attended the press conference.
“Till last year, Virat’s position in the T20I team was in question…” a journalist asked when Dravid interrupted him midway and said: “Not by us sir. Not at all, never by us!”
— Anna 24GhanteChaukanna (@Anna24GhanteCh2) January 23, 2023
Dravid responded, “There are certain priorities we need to give to different white-ball events at particular times of time,” when asked why Kohli wasn’t playing in the T20Is despite being chosen to the ICC’s T20I team of the year (2022). The quantity of cricket we play…the World Test Championship and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, prospective qualification, and key matches for us in terms of qualifying We had to give some white-ball competitions top prominence; these six matches received that honor following the T20 World Cup. “As you’ve seen, Virat has played all these six games. He’ll get a bit of a break along with Rohit and 1 or 2 other guys in the next week while we play some T20I cricket. And they come refreshed on the 2nd and we have a good week’s camp before we play Australia. So yeah it’s just priorities. We have to prioritize certain formats.”
