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The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 is less than 20 days away. In the first match of the tournament MS Dhoni‘s Chennai Super Kings will face Royal Challengers Bangalore, which has stars like Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis. on March 22 in Chennai. With Virat Kohli skipping the ongoing Test series against England citing personal reasons, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar recently wondered if the star batter would play in the upcoming Indian Premier League.
Initially named in the Indian Test squad against England, the RCB talisman pulled out before the opening game in Hyderabad. Earlier this month, the cricketer along with his wife Anushka Sharma announced the birth of their second child.
“Kya woh khelenge… kuchh reason ke liye khel nahin rahe hain, shaayad ho sakta hai ke IPL ke liye bhi na khele(Will he play… He is not playing because of some reason, perhaps he may not play in IPL as well),” Gavaskar said rather cheekily when asked if Kohli would be hungry for runs in the IPL as he would be returning to action after a long break.
Now, RCB great and Kohli’s long-time teammate, AB de Villiers has hinted that Kohli may be present for the IPL.
When asked, if he will be present with the RCB team members during the IPL, AB de Villiers said: “Nothing confirmed yet. Virat Kohli has hinted that he might want me to come over just to spend a bit of time with him and some of the batter perhaps. Nothing confirmed yet. I think the call has got to come from Andy Flower, Faf and the team. But for now, I am just going to be in Mumbai for the first few weeks of the IPL. I am doing a bit of commentary so do watch our live streams. I will be back at the backend for the knockouts,” said de Villiers on his YouTube channel.
Sunil Gavaskar recently said that India must feel proud of its achievement to beat England without some of its top stars.
“Three years back, India missed a lot of big names in Australia but they still managed to pull off a fantastic win not just in Gabba. After getting all out in Adelaide for 36 they won in Melbourne and drew in Sydney. They battled hard to save the Sydney Test match. If Rishabh Pant stayed on the crease for half an hour then India could have won that match as well. But the Heart and application the young Indian players showed during that Australia tour was visible even this time around against England,” Gavaskar said on Sports Tak.
“That’s why I always say, you don’t need big names… If any big name thinks that India won’t win without him these two series have shown that whether you are there or not…Cricket is a team sport. It doesn’t depend on one individual.
“Credit must go to the way captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid have managed the team. They gave chances to the young players, moulded them, and encouraged them to play their natural game. This shows that whether we have big names or not, if we have players with big hearts then we can win.”
With PTI Inputs
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