With Virat Kohli missing the ongoing three-day intra-squad game in Pretoria as he flew home due to a family emergency, BCCI revealed that the player will be available for the first test against South Africa.
Virat Kohli returns home due to family emergency
Virat Kohli returns home due to a family emergency missing the intra-squad game in Pretoria. With the details of the emergency hasn’t been revealed yet, the BCCI sources have confirmed that the Indian star will be on time to play the opening game.
The men in blues have recently completed their ODI series 2-1 in India’s South Africa tour and are set to play a two-match test series at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
However, the 35-year-old Kohli left for Mumbai, three days back after the team management had permitted him to miss the intra-squad match. He will be expected to join the team on December 22.
Virat Kohli holds impressive records over all formats of the game. He broke multiple records during the World Cup campaign out of which surpassed Master Blaster’s 49 ODI centuries. He broke the record by scoring his 50th ODI century during the World Cup semifinals against New Zealand.
He was the leading runscorer in the recently completed World Cup 2023 where India suffered defeat in the World Cup finals against Australia. However, after the World Cup campaign, he was rested for the five-match T20I series against Australia and rested for the ODI and T20I series on India’s South Africa tour.
The visitors had two major setbacks as the opener Ruturaj Gaikwad failed to recover from his finger injury and will be ruled out for the Test match. He incurred a finger injury during the second ODI match against South Africa and was ruled out of the third match where Rajat Patidar was handed his debut.
“(He) hasn’t fully recovered from the blow he sustained to his ring finger while fielding in the second ODI. He remains under the supervision of the BCCI Medical Team,” said the BCCI statement.
On the other hand, Mohammed Shami was ruled out due to his ankle injury. Ishan Kishan also rested for the upcoming Test series. Other players like Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are waiting to feature in the Test series along with Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur.
India will be playing their first test match against South Africa starting on December 26 at SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium.
