No one's indispensable, says Gavaskar on Kohli's situation

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said that Virat Kohli is the not the only Indian player that is out of form as the decision to drop him from the team is up to the selectors.

There has been much debate over Kohli's loss of form with the likes of Kapil Dev, Virender Sehwag and Venkatesh Prasad urging the selectors to look beyond reputation. Kohli has not scored an international hundred since 2019 and is going through a rough patch this year having scored 443 from 17 innings across all formats.

Gavaskar said that international player do not have the luxury to take breaks unless they are dropped from the team.

"He [Virat Kohli] is not the only one who is out of form. This is not about one person," Gavaskar told India Today.

"Cricketers when they are playing for India, they cannot take a break. If selectors drop them, then fine. No one asks for a break when playing IPL. You must play for India. There should not be allowances made for these players who are on terrific retainers. Let the selection committee decide. But a player cannot ask for a break," he added.

With rumours of Kohli being dropped for the T20I series against West Indies, Gavaskar pointed to big players in the past who were axed.

"There has been no player including Don Bradman or Gary Sobers who were indispensable. In the history of the game there has not been a single player who has been indispensable," Gavaskar said.

When prodded by the interviewer to comment if Kohli should retire from T20 cricket, Gavaskar sympathized with Kohli by saying that no one knows about his mental situation.

"That’s a call for him to make. He knows his cricket better than anybody else. We are from outside. We don’t know what the mental situation is," Gavaskar said.

Kohli is a part of India's ODI squad for the series against England and is likely to miss the first ODI on Tuesday due to a groin strain.