World Cup 2023: Want Virat Kohli to win title and be carried on shoulders, says Virender Sehwag

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag wants Virat Kohli to win the upcoming World Cup and be carried on the shoulders of his teammates. Kohli has scored 47 ODI centuries in his glorious career and also completed 13000 ODI runs in the recently concluded Asia Cup, which India won for the eighth time.

The talisman has scored 13083 runs in 281 ODI matches at an average of 57.38 and there is no doubt that he is going to hold the key for the Indian team in the upcoming ODI World Cup while batting at three.

In the ongoing year, Kohli has scored 612 runs in 16 matches at an average of 55.63. The right-hander also scored a fine knock of 122 runs off just 94 balls in the Super Fours stage match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup.

Virat Kohli batted at number three and scored 443 runs in nine matches at an impressive average of 55.38 in the 2019 World Cup but he had failed to reach the three-digit mark. Kohli has been a consistent performer for the team in the last decade and he would aim to deliver the goods in the ODI World Cup.

Virender Sehwag said on Cricbuzz, “Cheeku (Kohli) didn’t score a single century in the 2019 World Cup, this year I hope he scores many hundreds and ends up as the leading run-scorer in the tournament. Then, I want him to be carried on the shoulders and get a round of the ground.”

The former swashbuckling batter added that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli deserve to win the World Cup. Rohit had scored 648 runs in the previous World Cup edition in 2019 but India had failed to go all the way.

“These two (Rohit & Kohli) senior players deserve to win the World Cup. Rohit Sharma was so close to getting picked for the 2011 World Cup but missed out. Later he became the Badshah of ODIs, he deserves to win a World Cup trophy because he is a fantastic player,” said Sehwag.

India will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on 8th October.

India’s final World Cup 2023 squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah.