India Star Virat Kohli Withdraws From First Two Tests Against England Due to 'Personal Reasons'
Virat Kohli becomes the second big name to withdraw from at least part of the upcoming Test series between England and India. It has been confirmed that the star batter will miss the first two Tests of the five-Test series due to personal reasons. It comes after the news that England batter Harry Brook will miss the entire series in India, also due to personal reasons.
India will be without star batter Virat Kohli for part of the series against England after it was confirmed that he will miss the first two Tests of the five-Test series due to personal reasons.
In a statement released on Monday, Jay Shah, honorary secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said: "Virat has spoken to captain Rohit Sharma, the team management and the selectors and has emphasized that while representing the country has always been his top priority, certain personal situations demand his presence and undivided attention,
"The BCCI respects his decision and the board and team management has extended its support to the star batter and is confident in the abilities of the remaining squad members to step up and deliver commendable performances in the Test series.
"The BCCI requests the media and fans to respect Virat Kohli's privacy during this time and refrain from speculating on the nature of his personal reasons.
Kohli was in the city on Sunday but didn't take part in an optional training session on Monday. Kohli did miss the white-ball series in South Africa and the first T20I against Afghanistan. In the latter it was personal reasons again and whilst the former saw the official reason being given as rest, he did return to India.
The team also said that they would confirm a replacement for Kohli soon
India have plenty of options to replace Kohli including playing in-form wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul as a pure batsman and then bringing in either KS Bharat or Dhruv Jurel as the keeper.
In the squad, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer were the two players slated to bat either side of Kohli in the anchor spot at No. 4. Yashasvi Jaiswal could come into the middle order to replace the legendary batsman.
In terms of outside of the squad there are plenty of options including the likes of Ishan Kishan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, Abhimanyu Easwaran and Rinku Singh but Pujara, Patidar, Easwaran and Khan are the frontrunners.
The news comes a day after England batter Harry Brook was confirmed to miss the entire series, also due to personal reasons. It is understood that he could rejoin the tour at a later date should that option present itself.
Brook's replacement was confirmed as new Surrey batsman Dan Lawrence.
