Virat Kohli’s wicket is a prized one for any bowler. Even the great James Anderson once said that Kohli is one of the toughest batters to bowl to.
Apart from his run-scoring prowess, there’s the aura he brings to the field. But for a batter of such calibre, Kohli has a surprisingly poor record against Sandeep Sharma. The Indian pacer, who has played only two T20Is for India but is an IPL veteran, has dismissed Kohli seven times in 18 innings. Kohli averages just 18.85 against him. The 32-year-old Sandeep last played in the IPL 2025 for the Rajasthan Royals. Sandeep Sharma numbers in IPL are 146 wickets in 137 matches at a strike rate of 20.83.
Recently, he opened up about not getting an India call-up since he last played against Zimbabwe in 2015. He was asked: “Do you still feel you have enough fuel in you to make it to the Indian T20I team?”
“I think I have. But at the same time, I personally feel that once you turn 32 or 33 in the Indian circuit, even if you’re performing well, people don’t really look at you. People always go for younger players – and that’s how it should be.
“If somebody asked me, even if I were a selector, and you asked me who I would pick – Harshit Rana or Sandeep Sharma, if both are performing similarly – I would always pick Harshit Rana.
Because he has that future ahead of him. If he settles down, he can give you 5-7 years of good fast bowling,” Sandeep told CricTracker.
“If you have a 33-year-old player who is performing similarly, he might give you a maximum of 2-3 years of quality cricket – and then what? But if you give those 2-3 years to a young player to groom, that person can give you 7-8 good years across formats. So yes, you should be picking the younger player.”
Sandeep was also realistic enough to admit that he is not ‘outperforming’ the younger guys: “If someone is clearly outperforming others, that’s a different case. But as you said – fuel – obviously I think about it, and I’m doing the preparation and hard work. But if you look at the IPL, I’m not outperforming these guys by a big margin. If the performances are similar, then I’d say pick Harshit Rana or someone like Prasidh Krishna, or another young player. Right now, in our Indian circuit, there are some very good young fast bowlers coming up. So obviously, if I were a selector, I’d be picking them.”