'Pressure is piling on him' - Saba Karim believes T20 World Cup 2021 could decide Virat Kohli's captaincy future

Virat Kohli has enjoyed an impressive run as Team India captain, and his record speaks volumes of his prowess. With 33 victories under the belt, the talismanic cricketer is already the most successful Indian skipper in the longest format of the game. At the same time, he has a win percentage of more than 70 in ODIs and over 65 in the T20I format. However, these staggering numbers pale as all the ICC titles are still elusive for captain Kohli.

The 32-year-old marshaled the Indian troop in the 2017 Champions Trophy, 2019 World Cup, and the recently-concluded World Test Championship. Team India performed well in all these competitions and looked set to get the glory. However, every time they stumbled in the knockout games and fell short of the title. Owing to this, many fans and experts have raised questions over Kohli’s leadership skills.

Notably, the next big ICC event in the cricket calendar is the T20 World Cup in the UAE later this year. Kohli will lead the Men in Blue once again and would like to cross the final hurdle this time around. Speaking of the same, former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Saba Karim opined that India’s campaign in the marquee event can make or break Kohli’s future as national captain.

T20 World Cup will be very crucial for Virat Kohli

“The T20 World Cup that is going to be played later this year will be extremely crucial for Virat Kohli’s captaincy career. The pressure is piling on Virat and he knows that he hasn’t won an ICC trophy yet. So, his aim would be for India to win the T20 World Cup,” Karim told India News Sports.

“If India can lift the trophy, then I believe Kohli will have that breathing space. Maybe he can take stock of the situation then and decide how long he wants to captain the team. His name is coming up in the list of big captains but an ICC title is far from him,” he added.

Karim also backed the idea of split captaincy with all the three formats now having World Cups. Highlighting that different formats require different skillsets, the 53-year-old said having another captain in one format can reduce Kohli’s workload.