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Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has made a controversial statement about Virat Kohli’s recent struggles as preparations for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 intensified. Kohli, as expected, kept his place in Team India for the main event.
However, the main question is whether the former captain of the Indian cricket team put his poor form behind him and lead the batting line-up from the front in the upcoming Champions Trophy in ICC 2025, which will start on February 19 in Karachi, Pakistan. .
Basit Ali says Virat Kohli’s decision to miss England Tests was a turning point for him
The reason for the concerns is the right-handed batsman’s recent dismal form with the bat as he could only manage 190 runs in nine innings at an average of 23.75 in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 against Australia. Before the Australia tour, Kohli scored 192 runs at an average of 19.2 in five Tests at home against Bangladesh and New Zealand.
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Now, Virat Kohli’s place in the Indian cricket team is under immense scrutiny and his performance in the upcoming three-match ODI. series against England at home will be under the radar as the national selectors are set to make a call on the 36-year-old batsman’s future after the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Amid the raging debate over the Indian batting icon’s struggles and place in the team, Basit Ali has surprisingly blamed Virat Kohli’s second son Akaay for his struggles with the bat. In fact, Kohli missed the five-match Test series against England last year at home due to Akaay’s birth.
Virat Kohli would have been a different player if he had played against England – Basit Ali
And the former Pakistan cricketer believes that if Virat Kohli had played in that Test series, things would have been different as the pitches were good to bat on the first two days, and he could have easily found his mojo in the home conditions and things would not have been so hard for him.
Basit Ali said in a video posted on his YouTube channel: “If Virat Kohli had played the Test series against England and not missed it due to the birth of his son, he would have been a different player. The deliveries were brilliant for the first two days before it starts to break down.”
Meanwhile, the former Pakistan coach also reacted to the exclusion of Sanju Samson and Karun Nair of Team India for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. He hit out at the Indian head coach, Gautam Gambhirand selectors for not keeping their word on domestic cricket.
Basit Ali slams India’s decision to drop Sanju Samson and Karun Nair from ICC Champions Trophy 2025 squad
Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul have been picked ahead of Sanju Samson as wicketkeepers for the eight-nation tournament despite the Kerala player smashing three T20I centuries last year. On the other hand, Karun Nair’s 779 runs in the recent Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 was not enough to make it to the Indian squad.
Basit Ali stressed that both Sanju Samson and Karun Nair should have been picked in the 2025 Champions Trophy squad while mentioning the Vidarbha captain’s VHT heroics. He signed off saying, “Nair and Samson deserve a place. Rohit (actually it was Gautam Gambhir) had talked about the importance of domestic cricket. Nair has performed in domestics.”
