Ahead of the two-match Test series, star batter Virat Kohli has joined the Indian squad in South Africa following a pre-approved trip to London.
Earlier, it was reported that Kohli had returned home due to “a family emergency”. However, it seems that was never the case.
According to a CricketNext report, Virat had travelled to London after attending a couple of training sessions in South Africa. His journey to UK was approved by the BCCI and the team management was well aware of the plans.
“Virat Kohli wasn’t going to play that game. The team management was aware about his plan and schedule, and it isn’t something which happened overnight or due to family emergency. Look at the player in question, it’s Virat Kohli. He is very well planned when it comes to these things and his London trip was communicated and planned well in advance,” CricketNext quoted a senior BCCI official as saying.
As of result of travelling, Virat Kohli missed the inter-squad practice game in Pretoria from December 20 to December 22.
Nonetheless, he has already linked up with his Indian teammates in South Africa for the first Test, slated to get underway on December 26 in Centurion.
Notably, Kohli was rested for the white-ball leg of the South Africa tour. He joined the team on December 15 and trained with the squad for three days before flying to London on December 19.
Meanwhile, Team India will miss the services of three of their players, who were initially picked for the upcoming two-match Test series against South Africa.
While top-order batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out of the series due to a finger injury, veteran pacer Mohammad Shami couldn’t travel to South Africa owing to an ankle injury. On the other hand, wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan withdrew his name from the Test series citing "personal reasons".
The selectors have named KS Bharat and Abhimanyu Easwaran as replacements in the squad.
India Test Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran.
