Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has dispelled the rumours about Virat Kohli planning to play county cricket before India’s Test series against England later this year. He added that the RCB player is unlikely to skip Indian Premier League (IPL) games to play domestic cricket in England as well. Notably, India faced a 1-3 defeat against Australia in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “There was a report that Virat Kohli will go and play county cricket after the IPL so that he gets prepared for the Test series against England. Once this report came, the keyboard warriors spread the news about his commitment. You should check a little when and where the matches are happening. I saw a post from Chandresh Narayanan on X. He asked what you people are doing and he is right. Eight rounds of county cricket will be over by the time the IPL final is played. Wake up if someone is trying to say that Kohli will skip the IPL and prepare for Tests by playing county.”

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In the same video, Aakash Chopra also urged Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to play Ranji Trophy games before the ODI series against England as well.

“However, there is one thing for sure. The next round of the Ranji Trophy is starting on January 23. So both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli should play those two rounds as T20I cricket will be happening at that time. These guys don’t play T20I cricket. So play Ranji Trophy cricket. The last time when there was a chance to play first-class cricket, both said – ‘We don’t need to.’ That was the Duleep Trophy which was organized to prepare you for the long Test season. I don’t think they would be given the choice now. They might still have the choice but I don’t think they will choose to skip it now,” Aakash Chopra concluded.