India vs England: Virat Kohli opts out of first two Tests due to personal reasons

Virat Kohli has pulled out of the first two Tests against England citing personal reasons. The Test series gets underway on 25 January in Hyderabad. No replacement has been named for Kohli at the moment but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said a stand-in choice will be named soon. The BCCI statement said, “Virat has spoken to Captain Rohit Sharma, the team management and the selectors and has emphasized that while representing the country has always been his top priority, certain personal situations demand his presence and undivided attention.” “The BCCI respects his decision and the Board and team management has extended its support to the star batter and is confident in the abilities of the remaining squad members to step up and deliver commendable performances in the Test series.” “The BCCI requests the media and fans to respect Virat Kohli’s privacy during this time and refrain from speculating on the nature of his personal reasons. The focus should remain on supporting the Indian cricket team as they embark on the upcoming challenges in the Test series.” Kohli has played four matches since the ODI World Cup final featuring in the two Tests against South Africa and two T20I matches against Afghanistan. The star batter had missed the first T20I in the series also due to personal reasons. Since the ODI World Cup heartbreak, Kohli scored 38, 76, 46 and 12 runs in South Africa - to emerge as India’s highest scorer in the Test series - followed by 29 and 0 versus Afghanistan. The nought against Afghanistan was his first golden duck in T20I cricket. The five-match Test series gets underway on 25 January in Hyderabad with the second Test in Visakhapatnam beginning on 2 February. Who will replace Kohli? As per news agency PTI, one of Rajat Patidar of Madhya Pradesh and Sarfaraz Khan of Mumbai are frontrunners to replace Kohli. Patidar recently scored 151 runs against England Lions in an unofficial Test and Sarfaraz scored a half-ton in the second innings of the same game. There is also talk of including veteran Cheteshwar Pujara in the line-up considering his experience of 20,000 plus first-class runs, including 7000 in Tests.