'Where is Virat Kohli'- Fans outraged over Virat Kohli's absence in Indian T20 League's Greatest Batters list

The 16th Season of the Indian T20 League is around the corner and the buildup for the tournament has started already. The world’s most-watched cricketing league is likely to commence on March 29 after the inaugural edition of the Women’s T20 League concludes on March 26. Meanwhile, broadcasters have announced Incredible Awards to celebrate the success of the league in the last 15 years.  

Star Sports announced the nominations 

TV broadcasters of Indian T20 League Star Sports along with ESPNCricinfo have announced the nomination list for various awards. All the winners will be announced on February 20 when fifteen years ago the first auction of the Indian T20 league took place.

Nominees for the Greatest batter of the tournament: 

Chris Gayle: The universe boss Chris Gayle was one of the greatest T20 batters in the world. He has enjoyed playing in Indian T20 League for Bangalore, Punjab Kolkata franchise. He has scored 4965 runs in 142 matches in the league. Meanwhile, he has smashed some iconic knocks including a record-breaking 175 not out against the Pune franchise in 2013.

AB de Villiers: The Portea wicketkeeper-batter AB de Villiers has earned the title of Mr. 360 because of his all-around hitting ability. Playing for Bangalore de Villiers has scored 5162 runs in 134 matches with the help of three centuries and 40 half-centuries.

David Warner: The Australian batter has been one of the most consistent overseas batters in the tournament. He has scored 5881 runs in 162 matches and is the fifth-highest run-getter in the tournament.

Suresh Raina: Playing for the Chennai franchise Raina has been the most consistent player in the tournament. He has scored 350 runs in all seasons of the Indian T20 League which he played. Raina is the highest run-getter in the playoffs of the tournament.

Twitter bashed organizers for not including Virat Kohli

Although the nominee list of the Greatest Batter of the tournament has triggered a debate on social media. The list which includes Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, David Warner, and Suresh Raina surprised netizens as the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Shikhar Dhawan misses out on the list.

Notably, Virat Kohli is the leading run-getter of the tournament as he has scored 6624 runs in 215 innings in the Indian T20 League. Kohli has also scored five hundred and 44 half-centuries in the tournament. However, the former Indian Batter misses out on the list. 

A Twitter user expressing his disbelief wrote, “Where is the leading run-scorer of the tournament.”

Here are some interesting Tweets: 

A guy who has scored 6624 runs with 5 centuries including 973 runs in a season is not in the nominees 💀

— Cricket Crazy (@CrazyinCricket) February 10, 2023

No way Raina makes that list if Virat doesn’t feature

— AK (@rwamit) February 10, 2023

Good good @StarSportsIndia

The highest run scorer of ipl is not nominated 👏

— GuptAA 🪓 (@abdiratcult) February 10, 2023

People wondering why Virat and Rohit is not in the list , if they were in the list then it'll become one-sided to win for other players for they are not included to give a fair chance to this players

— ROCK ON Musicians (@musicians_on) February 10, 2023

This list should also include kohli in it .. how can they exclude him from the list. He has been the most consistent after Raina i guess to perform in almost most of the seasons.

— DANISH (@danish__khaan) February 10, 2023

Talk to me when someone touches 973 in 16 matches with some of the matches being less than 20 overs due to rain😮‍💨

— I_am_hritik (@Iamhritik6) February 10, 2023

Why Kohli is not even nominated? That's disrespectful way. He's the highest run scorer of IPL and you don't even nominate him for the greatest IPL batter. Well from the above nominees it should be ABD for me atleast.

— Mukund Agarwal (@RealMukundA) February 10, 2023

No Leading Run Scorer of IPL 😯😯

— Cricket Crazy (@CrazyinCricket) February 10, 2023

None of them scored 973 runs with 4 centuries in a single season.

— Kohli.world18 (@sakethking18) February 10, 2023