Virat’s strike-rate was struck off!

Indiarsquos chief selector Ajit Agarkar revealed on Thursday that there were no concerns whatsoever within the selection panel over Virat Kohlirsquos strikerate when they got down to pick the team for next monthrsquos T20 World Cup ldquoExperience matters a lot there was never any talk among the selectors regarding Viratrsquos strikerate Therersquos no point overthinkingrdquo Agarkar said at a press conference at the Wankhede Stadium on ThursdayWhile opening the innings for Royal Challengers Bengaluru RCB in this IPL Kohli has amassed 500 runs in 10 games at a strikerate 14749 He was Indiarsquos top rungetter 296 in six games at the 2022 T20 World Cup in UAE ldquoWe have not been discussing his Kohli strikerate Therersquos a difference between IPL and international cricket You need experience We have got enough balance and power in the team You try and take the positives from what is happening in the IPL The pressure of a World Cup is differentrdquo remarked AgarkarThough MIrsquos Rohit 315 runs in 10 IPL games Kohli and RRrsquos Yashasvi Jaiswal 249 runs in nine games are opening the innings for their respective IPL teams Rohit made it clear that the Indian team management has not decided who will open in the tournament that will be held in the US and West IndiesAlso ReadPacer Chaharrsquos injury doesnrsquot look good Coach FlemingIndia begin their campaign against Ireland on June 5 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York followed by the marquee clash against Pakistan on June 9 at the same venue India will then play USA and Canada on June 12 and 15 respectivelyWhen asked why hardhitting batsman Rinku Singh was not considered Agarkar admitted it was a tough call ldquoItrsquos probably the toughest thing that we have had to discuss frankly He Rinku has done nothing wrong nor has Shubman Gill for that matter Again itrsquos just the team combination Like Rohit said we are not quite sure what conditions wersquoll get so we wanted to have enough optionsrdquoWhen midday asked the India captain how he will use Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube as bowling options Rohit gave the impression that their chief role will be with the bat ldquoThe bowlers with some kind of skill sets have good chances of success in this format If we need Shivam to bowl a few overs he will bowl a few overs Same with Hardik Hersquos been bowling regularly in the IPL whenever required He has played all IPL games so fitnesswise therersquos no issuerdquoOn what caused the exclusion of KL Rahul the chief selector said ldquoKL is a terrific player We were looking at someone who bats in the middle order At the moment he KL is batting at the top Sanju Samson we like to believe has the ability to come down the order if need be Rishabh Pant is batting down the order for DC Delhi Capitals Itrsquos about the slots we needed to fill We felt these two are better and have spent more time down the order which might be needed at the World CuprdquoOne of the main aspects of criticism over the latest selection is the fact that there are four spinnersmdashRavindra Jadeja Axar Patel Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal mdashin the squadRohit responded to that saying ldquoI donrsquot want to go too much into detail on it I definitely wanted four spinners We have played a lot of cricket there WI We know what the conditions are like The matches start at 10 or 1030 in the morning so there is a bit of a technical aspect involved in this Maybe in the first press conference I do in the West Indies Irsquoll give more details on this Irsquom not going to say it in public now but Irsquoll definitely say it there I wanted four spinners for surerdquo Rohit added