West Indies cricketing legend Chris Gayle backed former India captain Virat Kohli who is currently going through a lean patch of his career. The 36-year-old batter's last century came in Australia during the first Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. After smashing an unbeaten ton in Perth, the modern-day great failed to continue the momentum as he managed to score 190 runs in five Tests.
After struggling against Australia, Kohli featured for Delhi in a Ranji Trophy match against Railways where he got out after scoring six runs. After Delhi's Ranji match, Kohli joined the Rohit Sharma-led squad for the three-match ODI series where he missed the first clash due to a knee injury. He featured in the second match where the batter got out on just five runs. Former West Indies cricketer Gayle who featured for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) alongside Kohli in the Indian Premier League (IPL) slams the India batter's critics. In the exclusive conversation with Sports Tak, Chris Gayle said that Kohli is the best cricketer in the world.
"He is the best cricketer in the world. There is no debate on that. Sometimes people forget what he has done for the country and go after him, but that is not required" Gayle told Sports Tak.
After finishing the white ball series, the star batter will feature for India in the Champions Trophy 2025. Kohli's form will play a crucial role in India's performance in the marquee event. Team India will start their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh on February 19.
Champions Trophy will take place in a hybrid model where matches featuring India and one of the semifinals will take place in Dubai and the rest of the tournament will take place in Pakistan. The venue for the Champions Trophy final also depends on India's performance, if India manages to qualify the finale will take place in Dubai. Otherwise, the title decider will take place in Pakistan.
India squad for Champions Trophy 2025: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja.