Will Virat Kohli Play Today In 2nd T20I against England? Who Will Kohli Replace In India Playing 11?

Birmingham, July 9: Virat Kohli is back in the India squad for the T20I series against England, and the second T20I is scheduled to be held at Edgbaston on Saturday (July 10).

But the questions on everybody’s lips is straight — will Virat Kohli play today? Whom will he replace in the India Playing 11 today?

We are looking at the options here.

1 Kohli replaces Ishan Kishan

Ishan Kishan made 8 runs off 10 balls in the first T20I against England at Southampton. In the past Kohli has showed desire to open the innings in T20s and did that for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL and on a couple of occasions for India too.

2 Kohli replaces Deepak Hooda

The original batting slot of Kohli in white ball formats is No 3. Since Kohli was not in the squad for the 1st T20I, Hooda came to bat at No 3 and made an impressive 33 off 17 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. It was the kind of innings a team needs from their No 3 in T20s. Kohli has not been in that kind of hitting form for sometime now and his IPL 2022 strike rate was also below par. Hooda recently had made a 100 against Ireland and against England at Southampton he made his runs at 194.11. So can Kohli replace Hooda in the India Playing 11?

3 Kohli replaces Suryakumar Yadav

Another hard to imagine scenario. SKY had made 39 runs off 19 balls (strike rate of 205.26) in the first T20I against England and he remains a forceful batsman and moreover Suryakumar bats at No 4. So, it is tough to see Kohli coming in for Suryakumar in the Playing 11.

4 T20I stats of Kohli

Virat Kohli might have been struggling to force runs and pace in Test cricket and in ODI cricket since 2019 but in T20Is, Kohli has maintained a good standard since 2021. He has played in 10 T20I innings to score 368 runs at an average of 61.33 and his strike-rate too is at an acceptable 131.89 with 5 fifties. So, it is a matter of whom will Kohli replace in the India playing 11 for the 2nd T20I against England.