Pat Pocock Believes Virat Kohli's Unavailability Will Disappoint Many in England

Former English off-spinner Pat Pocock said that the whole of England will be disappointed at the fact that if Virat Kohli would not be able to play in the County Championship ahead of India’s tour of England.

Team India skipper Kohli was slated to play for Surrey for the month of June in all three formats of the game.

Pocock was the President of Surrey from 2015 to 2016 said that England will definitely rue the missed opportunity ahead of India England Test series.

Kohli’s brief county stint with Surrey was out to rest after the Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed that he will the short county stint due to a neck injury supposedly “slipped disc”.

The 29-year-old star batsman Kohli suffered the injury during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on 17^th May.

“Not only cricket lovers in London, but anybody, who has an interest in cricket all over the country, was looking forward to seeing Kohli play here,” the 71-year-old Pocock was quoted as saying by the Mid Day.

Meanwhile, it was BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary who broke the news through a media release.

“Kohli, who was scheduled to play for Surrey CCC in the month of June, has been ruled out from participating. This decision was taken following assessments by the BCCI Medical team, subsequent scans, and a specialist visit. The BCCI Medical Team is confident that Kohli will regain full fitness ahead of India’s upcoming tours to Ireland and England,” said Choudhary.

Also Read: IPL 2018: David Warner Wishes Sunrisers Hyderabad Ahead of their Knockout Clash Against KKR

Pocock was part of the England squad touring India on a couple of occasions. Once in 1972-73 and the next and the last time in 1984-85. He said that it will definitely be unfortunate to not have Kohli on the field.

“It’s unfortunate that we are not going to have him on the field, but we are also not going to have him off the field with the younger players. I just hope it’s a minor injury and it doesn’t hold him up for long,” he said.

Kohli decided to play in county cricket in order to prepare for the gruelling tour of England. He had a horrendous time in England for the last time (2014) India toured the country. He scored just 134 runs in 10 innings at a below-par average of 13.40.

Meanwhile, it must be noted that Pocock bowled to some of the greats of India. It included the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Mohammad Azharuddin and many more.

However, he was unable to elaborate more on Kohli’s greatness as he has not watched him for an extended period in the longest format of the game.

“I’ve watched him more in the shorter form of the game and not so much in Test cricket. Until I see him play a lot more in Tests matches, it will be difficult to compare him with the other great Indian names. He must be great. You cannot have the statistics that he has in all forms of the game without being a fine player,” said the former English off-spinner.

It will be a pretty tough assignment for Kohli in both areas:

It will be a pretty tough assignment for Kohli both as a skipper and a batsman. Even the best batsman of the modern generation has found it quite difficult in English conditions.

Pat Pocock remarked a bit more swing in England as the reason behind Kohli’s downfall the previous time around.

“The ball moves a little bit more in England. You must have an awful lot of skills to score a hundred but you also need luck as well. You and I’ve never seen anybody score a ton without playing and missing four to five times. Just one of those times, instead of missing it, you nick it and you’re out, so that’s where the luck comes into it,” Pocock concluded.

Also Read: IPL 2018: VVS Laxman Backs Sunrisers Hyderabad to Overcome CSK Loss