"Virat Kohli had no intentions to skip the Afghanistan Test", says Amitabh Chaudhary

Virat Kohli will be playing for Surrey in county cricket at the time.

Virat Kohli pic credit IANS

Amitabh Chaudhary, the acting Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India,  has come out and reiterated that there should be no criticism of the Indian Captain Virat Kohli for skipping the Afghanistan Test in June. 

Chaudhary stated that as Virat will be busy playing the county championship games for Surrey at the time, which is part of his preparation for the full tour of England this summer, his intentions were never to skip the Test against one of the newest Test-playing nations. Instead, it's about the priorities Virat sets for himself. He wants to prove his worth as an all conditions batsman.

Amitabh Chaudhary told the media yesterday that, “There was no intention (on Virat’s part) of not to play (against Afghanistan). It is only because of the English challenge which we have to rise through to the satisfaction of the entire cricket fraternity in this country and Virat wants to sustain for the right reasons,” 

“We have taken this decision to allow Virat as well as some others to give them a fair opportunity of acclimatizing themselves in England. Basically, it is not for the shorter format but the longer one, Our focus remains Test cricket and we continue to believe that this is one format which is normally the genesis of cricket in the world and it is something we need to nurse all time,”

India's full tour of UK, where they play Ireland for 2 T20Is and 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs, 5 Tests against England, starts on the 27th of June. 


 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 09 May, 2018

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