Why is Virat Kohli not playing today's IND vs SL 1st T20I?
Team India are without star batter Virat Kohli for the opening T20I of the three-match series against Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. Kohli announced his T20I retirement after the 2024 T20 World Cup final and hence will not represent India in the format again.
The 35-year-old didn't have a memorable 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States in June. The right-handed batter hadn't registered a half-century heading into the final. Kohli, though, reserved his best for the summit clash, top-scoring with 76 off 59 against South Africa in Barbados. He was the Player of the Final as India won by seven runs.
With Kohli having retired from T20 internationals, Team India will hope that the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma can carry forward his legacy.
Jaiswal and Gill are part of the Indian squad for the T20Is in Sri Lanka. While Jaiswal has 643 runs in 20 T20Is at a strike rate of 162.78, Gill has 505 runs in 19 matches at a strike rate of 139.50.
As for Gaikwad and Abhishek, they were part of the Indian team for the five-match T20I series in Zimbabwe.
Gaikwad scored 77* and 49 in two of the games, while Abhishek slammed 100 off 47 in the second T20I in Harare. Both batters, though, haven't been picked for the series in Sri Lanka. While Abhishek made his T20I debut in Zimbabwe, Gaikwad has featured in 23 T20Is.
Virat Kohli's record in the T20I format
If we look at Kohli's record in the T20I format, he played 125 matches and ended up smashing 4188 runs at an average of 48.69 and a strike rate of 137.04, with one hundred and 38 half-centuries.
The former India captain is second on the list of batters with most runs in the T20I format. Only Rohit Sharma (4231) is above him on the list. Babar Azam (4145) is the only batter apart from the Indian duo with 4000+ T20I runs.
The right-handed batter's best of 122* came off 61 against Afghanistan in Dubai in 2022. He also smashed 94* off 50 against West Indies in Hyderabad in 2019, 90* off 55 against Australia in Adelaide in 2016 and 89* off 47 against the West Indies in the 2016 T20 World Cup semi-final in Mumbai.