IND vs ENG: Virat Kohli disappoints yet again, eyebrows raised over exclusion of in-form Deepak Hooda

Virat Kohli walking into the Indian playing XI at the cost of an in-form Deepak Hooda raised many eyebrows and the murmurs turned louder when the former India captain failed to impress on his T20I return.

Virat returned to the T20I fold after nearly five months and his innings lasted for only three balls in the Edgbaston T20I vs England on Saturday. Debutant Richard Gleeson sent back Kohli for just 1.

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Kohli came out to bat at the number three position, where Deepak Hooda has been performing brilliantly. In the times of power-hitters calling the game in the shortest format of cricket, Kohli went back to the pavilion while trying to drag a good length delivery from outside off and managed only a top-edge.

He has been out of form for quite a while now and also had a forgettable IPL, where Kohli scored just a half-century.

Meanwhile, Hooda has been in great form lately and put up an impressive performance in the first T20I of this series. He came to England on the back of a hundred and a fiery 47 vs Ireland. It came as a major surprise to many when team management decided to back reputation over form.

Going by the statistics, Kohli has played 3 T20Is this year and scored only 70 runs overall. On the other hand, Hooda has accumulated 184 runs with an impressive strike rate of over 170 in the last three T20Is.