India’s key batter, Virat Kohli has withdrawn from the first two Tests against England due to personal reasons due to which he had to pull out of the initial two Tests. BCCI has appealed to both fans & media to avoid speculation about the cause of his absence & urged his fans to maintain privacy at this moment. The replacement for Virat Kohli will be announced shortly.
“Virat Kohli has requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to be withdrawn from the first two Tests of the upcoming IDFC First Bank Test series against England, citing personal reasons,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
The BCCI also said that Kohli has discussed his decision with Captain Rohit Sharma & the team management.
Virat has communicated with Captain Rohit Sharma, the team management, and the selectors, underscoring that although prioritizing national representation has always been his foremost commitment, specific personal circumstances necessitate his full attention and presence.
IND vs ENG 2024: BCCI supports Virat Kohli in his decision
Jay Shah said that the BCCI completely backs its star player & has faith in the team & it’s ability to produce better results even without its best batter. BCCI said that
It fully understands and supports Virat Kohli’s decision. Both the Board and the team management stand behind the star batter, expressing confidence in the remaining squad members to step up and deliver noteworthy performances in the Test series, as highlighted by the secretary. He also appealed to everyone to respect Kohli’s privacy during this period.
The BCCI urged the media and fans to be considerate of Virat Kohli’s privacy and refrain from speculating on the nature of his personal reasons. Shah emphasized that the primary focus should be on supporting the Indian cricket team as they gear up for the upcoming challenges in the Test series.
The board also said that they are concentrating on the Test series & the Indian Cricket team as they are going to play a challenging Test series. It has been learned that both Shah and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar were kept in the loop about the possibility of Kohli needing a break at some point during the England series. Recently, Kohli also skipped the first T20I game against Afghanistan due to “personal reasons”.
For the unversed, Kohli had earlier taken a short break due to personal reasons during the India tour of South Africa in 2022 where he missed an intra-squad practice game & flew back to London within days of arriving in South Africa. The last time he took a break was not due to an injury but due to the birth of his daughter Vamika.
Rajat Patidar or Sarfaraz Khan can be Virat Kohli Replacement
It is understood that one of the two heavyweight players, Rajat Patidar & Sarfaraz Khan are frontrunners to replace Virat Kohli. Patidar has recently performed exceptionally in the fixture against England Lions in the unofficial Test where he scored 151 runs in the second innings of the game. There is talk of including veteran Cheteshwar Pujara in the line-up considering his experience of 20,000 plus first-class runs, including 7000 in Tests.
It will be interesting to see whether the selection committee under Agarkar will go with experienced Cheteshwar Pujara or go with new faces such as Patidar & Sarfaraz.
IND vs ENG 2024: India’s Squad for the First & Second Test
Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz/Patidar/Pujara, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan
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