Virat Kohli's absence a psychological plus for Windies: Sunil Gavaskar

The Windies didn’t have an auspicious time in the Test and ODI series as they were beaten black and blue on both instances by India. The 50-overs matches were a bit more competitive, but in the end, the Men in Blue prevailed. The teams are now set to lock horns in a three-match T20I series. The first encounter is set to take place today at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

India will be captained by Rohit Sharma as Virat Kohli, their regular captain, has been given a break prior to the Australia tour, which starts on November 21. In the meantime, Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian cricketer, reckons the Delhi-born cricketer’s absence gives a massive psychological advantage to Carlos Brathwaite and Co going into the 20-overs fixtures.

They will hope to put pressure on the Indian batting

“India are also without their regular skipper Virat Kohli, and even though they have shown that they can win without him in the Asia Cup and the odd match where he fails to score a hundred, it is a huge psychological plus for the Windies,” Gavaskar wrote in his exclusive column for The Times of India (TOI).

“They will hope to put pressure on the Indian batting and hope that early wickets expose the newer Indian batsmen to pressure. India’s players have plenty of experience of the T20 format because of the IPL, but as we have seen in the past, playing for a franchise and playing internationally are two different things altogether,” he added.

Apart from Test and ODI cricket, Kohli also has an incredible record in the T20 format as well. In 62 matches, the 29-year-old has notched 2102 runs at an average of 48.88 and a strike rate of 136.22. Moreover, he has 18 half-centuries to his credit.

Kohli also holds the record of the fastest batsman to 1,000 international runs in T20 cricket. He is next scheduled to play the first T20I against Australia at The Gabba in Brisbane.

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