Virat Kohli may be absent in the 5-game T20 series against South Africa in June. The coaches are in the mood to rest him before the tour of England. Some other veteran players may also rest for the first two or three games of the series. A senior BCCI official has given this information.
The BCCI official has said: ‘There is a good chance that Virat Kohli will rest during the South Africa series. He is playing a lot of cricket and has been in the biological bubble for a long time. A policy has been established for senior players, including Virat Kohli, that they can be given necessary breaks from time to time.
After the IPL, the South African team will be touring India. A total of 5 T20 matches will be played between the two teams from June 9-19. Following this, Team India will tour the UK in June-July. The Indian team will first play a T20 series against Ireland and then play the remaining match of the 5-match test series with England in 2021. There will also be a 3-match T20 series and 3 ODIs between India and England.
Virat Kohli has been unable to score a century in any format of cricket for nearly three years. Kohli, who is running out of form in international cricket, is also looking colorless this time in IPL. He has so far been able to score just 216 runs in 12 games with a 19.63 batting average. During this, his strike rate has also been only 111.34.
In addition to Virat Kohli, other senior players will also be able to rest during the South African series. These players can rest for the first two or three games of the series. However, there will be more core team players available in this series. According to a BCCI official, ‘Captain Rohit Sharma also needs to rest as there is a lot of cricket being played. KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and other players will also need to rest from time to time.