It has been reported that India’s talisman batter Virat Kohli is set to opt-out of the three-match ODI series against South Africa due to personal reasons.
The ODI series will be played from January 19 to 23 and it has been reported that Kohli has informed the Indian board that he wants to celebrate his daughter Vamika’s first birthday with his family.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli had earlier decided to relinquish his T20I captaincy duties after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup. Subsequently, the Indian selectors decided to remove Virat Kohli from the ODI captaincy as they didn’t want two white-ball captains and appointed Rohit Sharma as the new white-ball captain.
In fact, Kohli had stated that he wants to continue as the Test as well as ODI captain and decided to quit the T20 captaincy to manage his workload. Thus, it is also anticipated that Kohli could be upset after he was removed as an ODI skipper.
Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma stated that the selectors should have given some more time to the talisman.
“I haven’t talked to him (Virat Kohli) yet. His phone is switched off for some reason. But as far as my opinion is concerned, he had specifically stepped down from T20 captaincy and the selectors should’ve straightaway asked him to step down from both the white-ball formats or not step down at all,” Rajkumar Sharma said on Khelneeti podcast.
Sources in the know of developments confirmed to ANI that Kohli has indeed asked the board for a small break in January next year. “Yes, Kohli has asked for a small break in January to spend some time with his family. It effectively means that he would miss the ODI series against South Africa,” the source said.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the Test series due to a hamstring injury and thus it will be interesting to note who will be Kohli’s deputy in the Test leg of the South African tour. With Kohli unlikely to be available for the ODI series, India’s white-ball captain and Test skipper won’t play together in the upcoming South Africa tour.
The first Test match between South Africa and India will be played at Centurion from December 26.
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