The captain of the Indian Test squad Virat Kohli is set to pull his name off the ODI team which will play against South Africa in their upcoming tour. The ODI series against SA will follow the 3-match Test series and is set to be played from January 19 to January 23.
The fresh turn of events came to the forefront after BCCI on Monday announced that the ODI captain and Test vice-captain Rohit Sharma will not be a part of the Test series due to his hamstring injury. The Test series, which will start from December 26, is scheduled to be led by Virat Kohli.
According to the sources, the Test skipper has decided to sit out from the limited over series against SA because of some “personal reasons.” However, a top BCCI on Tuesday made it clear that they have not yet received any official request from Kohli regarding the break from the upcoming ODI leg.
A senior BCCI official asserted, “As of now, Kohli hasn’t sent any formal request to skip the ODIs to either BCCI president Sourav Ganguly or secretary Jay Shah. If something is decided at a later date or God forbid, he sustains an injury, then it’s a different matter.”
“As things stand today, he is playing the three ODIs on January 19, 21, 23,” he further added.
According to the reports, the 32-year old might take a break to celebrate his daughter Vamika’s birthday.
Meanwhile, a source confirmed, “The skipper is travelling with his family. But yes, if he feels bubble fatigue after the Test series and wants to take a break, he would definitely inform the chairman of selectors and secretary (Shah), who is the convenor of the selection committee.”
Kohli has been long expressive of the fatigue of the bubble life and poor workload management taking a toll on one’s mental health. Last year, during the Australia series and three T20Is against NZ, Kohli was on paternity leave.
Notably, the timing of Rohit Sharma’s ruling out from the Test series and Kohli taking a break from the ODI series has given birth to the speculation of a possible rift between the two batsmen. Former Indian captain Md. Azharuddin on Tuesday took social media to raise his concerns about the issue.
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