'Indian Cricket Board might well face huge financial sponsorship loss if Kohli is dropped'- Monty Panesar

India's maverick batter Virat Kohli has endured a long sustained run of poor form. The Talismanic batsmen has failed to put bat to ball and has not been able to convert his good starts into big scores. The last three-figure score for Kohli came in 2019 and ever since then the batter has gotten himself into a rut where he has found the going tough to score runs. The superstar batter has not been able to get out of this rut.

Virat Kohli has had a tough tour of England, where he failed to score big in the test matches, T20Is and the ODIs as well. The whole cricket fraternity is talking about the form of Virat Kohli and it has always been a hot topic for discussion among cricketing pundits.

Monty Panesar the former English spinner, spoke about Virat Kohli's form. The former English spinner said that it will not be in the best interest of the Indian Cricket Board if Virat Kohli is dropped from the side because it will create large financial implications for the board in the form of huge sponsorship losses.

"The difficulty here is that he is the most marketable cricketer in the world. He is probably the one who entered that space after Sachin Tendulkar. So, from a financial perspective, of course, everybody just wants to watch your Virat Kohli bat or see him on the field. Fans love him a lot," he said.

"We all just love Virat and his intensity. Sometimes, it’s borderline but he’s very much admired in England. So, from the BCCI’s perspective, they’ve got to sit down and decide. When Virat Kohli plays, stadiums are full of sponsors.

"Are BCCI under pressure too, regardless of whatever the result and role Virat Kohli has to play, to keep the sponsors happy? That’s probably the biggest question. They can’t drop him or afford to drop him because they’ll probably lose huge financial sponsorship," Panesar added.

He also went on to say that this will be the case because of the marketability of a player like Virat Kohli and also because of the sheer presence and respect that he commands in the game of cricket.

On Virat Kohli's present form Monty Panesar said that Virat should talk to Sachin. "He admires him (Sachin) and respects him. He can have a chat with Yuvraj Singh (also). Virat respects Yuvraj a lot. Virat should speak to Yuvraj and Sachin. These two people can help him. He should come and see me and have a chat and we can maybe go for dinner. He should talk to someone who is completely outside of the game of cricket. The former English spinner feels that if this is done then it will help Virat to get back to the drawing board and recover his lost mojo," he said.