The Indian captain Virat Kohli is in no mood of leaving any stone unturned to prepare for England tour. As per the reports, Virat if needed, will feature for India ‘A’ side during their match against England Lions’ at Worcester in the 4-day Test match.
A BCCI official whose identity is still unknown, while talking to PTI said that the English weather can play spoilsport and that’s why BCCI and Kohli doesn’t want to miss out any opportunity of preparing for the all-important tour, which fans, as well as the experts, claim that it will be his biggest batting as well as his captaincy will be on test.
When the BCCI announced the Indian squad for the 2-match T20I series against Ireland, Kohli inclusion in the squad surprised. The dates of two games would clash with Kohli’s last match with his county cricket team Surrey against Yorkshire. However, the above mentioned BCCI official says that Virat can skip the county match for the national assignment.
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The BCCI official described, “The situation is pretty fluid right now. There is an arrangement with Surrey which allows Virat to honor his national commitment. So if he gets sufficient match time in the first two games, we might see him skipping the Yorkshire match and play both T20Is. But then there is no guarantee of English weather.”
BCCI is also trying to make sure that the excess of cricket ahead of the series doesn’t leave the Indian skipper tired. Thinking about the same, BCCI might request England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to push back the dates of India A and England Lion’s 4-day Test match.
As per the current schedule, India A will face the Lions’ side on 16th of July while the third and final ODI against England side will be taking place on July 17. To get the players in the Test match mood, there is a possibility that the Indian board can request the English counterparts to punish the Lions’ game.
The senior official added that the Indian skipper will be a playing the three-match ODI series first and then will play two county games while further decisions will be taken as per the situation. He said, ”All we can say at the moment is Virat is playing the three Royal London Cup matches followed by two county games till June 23. Post that, any decision that will be taken will depend on the situation that he will be in.”
