Virat Kohli is pretty much guaranteed a place in India's T20 World Cup squad but Matthew Hayden is not so sure if that's the way the BCCI selection committee should be heading for ahead of picking the squad of 15. Kohli has achieved every batting record that there is and is possibly the greatest all-format batter of all time, and yet Hayden, a two-time World Cup winner with Australia, couldn't help but ask Ajit Agarkar the tough questions, starting with 'Is Kohli good enough to win the T20 World Cup for India?'

Australia, the six-time World Champions, and their cricketing culture in comparison to India is chalk and cheese. Cricket Australia doesn't think twice about reputations. If guys like Steve Smith, David Warner and Marcus Stoinis cannot cope with the requirements of modern-day T20 cricket, nothing will bring them back into contention. The same cannot be said about Team India and the BCCI. One may argue that Rohit Sharma and Kohli are what's best for T20Is, another set of ideology suggests the baton should be passed on to the next generation.

In this case though, Kohli was the leading run-scorer of the last two ICC tournaments – over 700 runs in the 2023 World Cup and 296 in the 2022 T20I edition in Australia. In the ongoing IPL, Kohli is again the Orange Cap holder with 500 runs, irrespective of the strike-rate debate hounding him. And still, Hayden wants to know if Kohli is the direction Indian cricket wants to go in.

"From an Australian cricket point of view, our philosophy is pretty simple. We pick not the names or the icons but select those who are going to win you the World Cup. We've got our own debates on our front. David Warner… should he go? We've had our challenges and I think we have been very good over the last 20 or even 30 years to actually think what is the side that is going to win," he said on the Star Sports Press Room Show.

"This Virat Kohli discussion is probably the primary discussion here. Is he the individual who is going to win you the World Cup? I mean, his last ODI World Cup was a fantastic campaign. He has got nothing wrong with his statistics, historically no matter what tournament he plays. So the challenge from mine is his experience vs the young impetus that is required to play great World Cup cricket."

Despite plenty of hue and cry being made over the pace at which Kohli has scored his runs – a decent 147 strike-rate – his struggles in the middle overs against spin has been heavily documented even though he banished some of it against Gujarat Titans' Sai Kishore and then following it up with a fiery reply to his doubters. But come the Caribbean and the USA whose pitches tend to be two-paced and unknown respectively, the experience of Kohli cannot be ruled out.

Icons over youth?

On the contrary, Hayden refreshed the memory with a small trip down memory lane. November 2023 to be honest, where a young Indian team led by Suryakumar Yadav beat Australia 4-1 at home with the likes of Rinku Singh and Yashasvi Jaiswal enjoying a blazing T20I tournament. Will BCCI be willing to risk all of it?

"More than anything, India are playing 4 games in the USA and they are unknown conditions, or at least less known than the Caribbean. And statistically, if you look at the way Caribbean cricket is played, you're going to face a lot of spin through the middle order. So, outside the first six overs, that's where the challenge for Virat Kohli lies, when the pace comes off the ball and you're in a situation where guys like great stroke-players like [Shivam] Dube or Rinku are present to carry you forward," Hayden pointed out.

“Then again, do you go with youth? I mean, when you look at India's second XI side that played Australia in November, you hammered us – the World Champions – 4-1 in that series and you are playing guys like Gaikwad who are not even in this discussion. Jaiswal was there as well getting hundreds. Anyway, I have challenged the thinking of the hierarchy in terms of, do you go with experience or youth that's got the world at their feet, no baggage and come into their own.”

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