Virat Kohli has been rested for the entire white-ball tour of West Indies after he requested BCCI for a break. On July 7, TOI had exclusively reported that Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah were unlikely to play the five-match T20I series following the three-match ODI series in the Caribbean that starts on July 22.
TOI has learnt Kohli has assured the board that he would be available for Asia Cup (late August) onwards. His struggles have put his place in the T20I playing XI under scrutiny with the T20 World Cup barely three months away.
“The team management and selectors wanted to play a full-strength T20I team from the ongoing England tour. But Kohli insisted he wanted a break and didn’t wish to travel to West Indies,” a BCCI source told TOI on Thursday.
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TOI has learnt Kohli has assured the board that he would be available for Asia Cup (late August) onwards. His struggles have put his place in the T20I playing XI under scrutiny with the T20 World Cup barely three months away.
“The team management and selectors wanted to play a full-strength T20I team from the ongoing England tour. But Kohli insisted he wanted a break and didn’t wish to travel to West Indies,” a BCCI source told TOI on Thursday.
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The resting of speedster Bumrah is understandable. It is workload management. Kohli’s case is hard to understand since he has not been scoring runs. And the crucial question that every cricket fan is asking is: how does India’s premium batter get back to form without playing cricket?
Kohli being rested for the white-ball tour of West Indies means he is realistically left with just the T20 Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in late August and the three T20Is against Australia after that to make a case for his worth in India’s T20I side, if he’s indeed in the selectors’ plans in this format of the game. India are going to send a second-string white-ball team to Zimbabwe in August and Kohli is unlikely to be part of that team too.
After Kohli failed in both the T20Is in England – being dismissed for scores of 1 & 11 – he has been at the centre of a raging debate over his place in India’s T20I side for the World Cup in Australia later this year, considering his patchy form and inability to fit into the team’s new-found all-out aggressive approach.
Moving on from Kohli, opener KL Rahul, who recently underwent a surgery for sports hernia in Germany, and Kuldeep Yadav, who was hit on his hand in the nets just before the India-South Africa T20I series, have been picked in the 18-member squad subject to clearing a fitness test.
“Jaspreet Bumrah has been rested to monitor his workload. Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya needed a breather from the ODIs,” a BCCI source told TOI on Thursday.
With Yuzvendra Chahal being given a break from the T20I series, it meant veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has made another comeback to India’s T20I side as Washington Sundar (nursing an injury) continues to remain out. Ashwin, Kuldeep (if he’s fit) Ravi Bishnoi, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel will all be a part of India’s spin arsenal in the Caribbean.
With Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan and Rahul (if he’s fit) all part of the squad, there was no place for ‘keeper-bat Sanju Samson.
While left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, who was not a part of the squad in the last two T20Is in England, has been included, express fast bowler Umran Malik – he conceded 56 in four overs against England in the last T20I in Trent Bridge – has been dropped.
India’s squad for 5 T20Is:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul*, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh
Rohit Sharma (C), I Kishan, KL Rahul*, Suryakumar Yadav, D Hooda, S Iyer, D Karthik, R Pant, H Pandya, R Jadeja, Ax… https://t.co/lLzB8cEXLN
— BCCI (@BCCI) 1657788033000
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