Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali made a controversial statement regarding Virat Kohli's recent struggles as preparations intensified for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Kohli, as expected, kept his place in the Indian team for the marquee event.
However, the major question is whether the former Indian cricket team captain has put his poor form behind him and led the batting line-up from the front in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which is set to begin on February 19 in Karachi, Pakistan. .
Basit Ali says Virat Kohli's decision to skip England Tests was a turning point for him
The reason behind the concerns is the right-handed batsman's dismal recent form 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 had scored 192 runs at an average of 19.2 in five home Tests 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 poised to take a call on the 36. -Future of the batsman years after the Champions Trophy 2025.
Amidst the heated debate over India's batting icon's struggles and place in the team, Basit Ali has shockingly blamed Virat Kohli's second child 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 in the first two days and he could have easily found his mojo back in conditions at home and things would not have been so difficult 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 for the birth of his son, he would have been a different player. The pitches were brilliant for the first couple of days before they started to crack.”
Meanwhile, the former Pakistan coach also reacted to the exclusion of Sanju Samson and Karun Nair from India's squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. He slammed India head coach Gautam Gambhir and the selectors for not sticking to their words them regarding 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 were picked ahead of Sanju Samson as players for the eight-nation tour 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 team.
Basit Ali pointed out 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 concluded by saying, “Nair and Samson deserved a place. Rohit (actually it was Gautam Gambhir) had talked about the importance of domestic cricket. Nair played domestics.”