Former England seamer Stuart Broad questioned rumours suggesting Virat Kohli’s exclusion from India’s squad for the 2024 T20I World Cup.

Kohli made a comeback to India’s T20I squad against Afghanistan after an absence of over a year since India’s semi-final defeat to England in the T20 World Cup in November 2022.

As per a report in The Telegraph, Kohli was asked to bat more aggressively by chief selector Ajit Agarkar. While Kohli scored a 16-ball 29 in the second match, he fell for a duck in the third and the final T20I.

However, before the 17th edition of the IPL, the report also claimed that Kohli might not be in India’s plans for the T20 World Cup in June, scheduled to be played in West Indies and the USA.

Reacting to an X (formerly Twitter) post, Broad ridiculed the claims, saying, “This can’t be true”.

“Just from a fans point of view of growing the game, the ICC putting games on in America, India Vs Pakistan in New York, Virat is the biggest draw of any player in the world,” Broad wrote. “I’m sure he will be selected.”

This can’t be true. Just from a fans point of view of growing the game, the ICC putting games on in America, India Vs Pakistan in New York, Virat is the biggest draw of any player in the world, I’m sure he will be selected

— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) March 12, 2024

No other batter has scored more runs in men’s T20 World Cup history than Kohli’s 1141. He averages a mammoth 81.5 in the tournament and has 14 half-centuries from 25 innings.

Kohli, who missed the five-match Test series against England due to personal reasons, will return to play for his IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore from March 22.

Last year, Kohli had a phenomenal IPL, scoring 639 runs at an average of 53.2 and a strike rate of 139.8 with two hundreds.

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