'If Ashwin can be dropped then why not Kohli?'

Amid the questions being raised on the indifferent form of Virat Kohli, former India captain Kapil Dev feels that the former Indian skipper is no longer indispensable in T20Is after his prolonged bad patch.
 
"If a bowler of Ravichandran Ashwin's calibre with nearly 450 Test wickets in his jitty can be dropped from the Test team's playing eleven, Kohli too should be dropped from the T20 team," said Kapil.

Flamboyant Kohli hasn't been among big runs for nearly three years now and the World Cup-winning all-rounder feels that Indian team management will be doing a disservice if in-form players are not given enough opportunities to showcase their skills.

"Now the situation is such that the team management might be forced to bench Kohli from T20 playing eleven. If world No. 2 bowler Ashwin can be dropped from Test side then World No. 1 batter Kohli can also be dropped," Kapil said.

Kapil had no hesitation in saying that Kohli is currently looking like a pale shadow of his old self.
 
"Currently, Virat is not batting at a level which we have seen him do over the years. He has made a name because of his performances but if he isn't performing consistently, then you can't keep the performing youngsters out of the team,'" said the legendary all-rounder.

"I want a healthy competition for places in the team in a positive sense that these youngsters should try and outperform Kohli," he said. 

Kapil said that if Kohli is rested for the West Indies T20I, it would rather be considered as 'dropped'. 

For Kapil, playing XI should be selected based on current form and not past reputations.

"Play in-form players when you have loads of options," said Kapil. "You can't just go by reputation but you have to look for current form. You can be an established player but that doesn't mean that you will be given chances even if you fail five games in a row," he concluded.