Usman Khawaja, has backed Virat Kohli after the former India captain’s run drought drew criticism from India legend Kapil Dev. The World Cup-winning captain believed that Virat Kohli was no longer necessary for T20Is following his protracted rough patch if a bowler of Ravichandran Ashwin’s calibre, who has around 450 Test wickets, could be omitted from the Test team’s starting eleven. Kohli hasn’t been among big runs for nearly three years now and the World Cup winning all-rounder feels that Indian team management will be doing disservice if in-form players aren’t given enough opportunities to showcase their skills.
“Yes, now the situation is such that you might be forced to bench Kohli from T20 playing eleven. If world No. 2 bowler Ashwin can be dropped from Test side then (once upon a time) world No. 1 batter can also be dropped," Kapil told ABP News.“Virat is not batting at a level which we have seen him do over the years. He has made a name because of his performances but if he isn’t performing, then you can’t keep the performing youngsters out of the team. I want competition for places in the team in a positive sense that these youngsters should try and outperform Virat," said the legendary cricketer.Meanwhile commenting on ICC’s Instagram post, Khawaja said something which gave an impression that the Aussie didn’t agree with Dev. “Averages 50 at almost 140. Good call, Australia agrees,” commented the cricketer.Kohli has been struggling for runs for some time now. He scored 341 runs in 16 matches in the IPL 2022 and has just one fifty under his belt for the last 12 months
