‘Ashwin, Rahane, Rohit and Rahul have been dropped’: Gambhir on Kohli surviving after 3-year century drought – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Former Indian batter Gautam Gambhir said that anyone apart from Virat Kohli would have been dropped if they went three years without a century and added that the star batter had earned his right to stay because of his past performances.

Kohli scored his 71^st international century – what was also his first century in T20 Internationals – on Thursday against Afghanistan after an elongated wait of 1,021 days.

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“Three years is a very long time. It’s not three months. And I’m not trying to be critical of him but he has earned that just because he has got loads of runs in the past. But I don’t think so that any of the young batters would have survived in international cricket had they not got a hundred in three years,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.

Several experts had criticised Kohli for being out of form for quite a while and not able to score big runs, which was quite usual for him earlier. However, Kohli’s century though in a facile win came just ahead of the T20 World Cup and that should motivate the Indian dressing room going into the World Cup.

Gambhir said that players like Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, and KL Rahul have been dropped for their inconsistencies in the past. Only Kohli has survived the BCCI axe for so long.

“Eventually it had to happen and it happened at the right time as well. You are just approaching the T20 World Cup and he’s got a hundred so he has got the monkey off his back. But let’s be fair and absolutely honest, I don’t think anyone in the dressing room would have survived three years without a hundred. People like Ashwin, Rahane, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul have been dropped. I haven’t known one guy who hasn’t been dropped after not having scored a hundred in three years. It is only Virat Kohli and he has earned that,” Gambhir added.

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