Virat Kohli Back To Practice To Prepare For South Africa Tour
Published - 23 Dec 2017, 06:00 PM | Updated - 22 Aug 2024, 11:47 PM
India skipper, Virat Kohli, has already started the preparation for the tour of South Africa. After the end of his wedding reception on Thursday night, the cricketer flew to Mumbai and has already started the preparation for the tour, a report in India Today suggests.
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From past two weeks, Kohli has not practised. It was on December 7 when he last played a professional game. Post the match; he revealed the reason why he asked for rest, and on the same day, it was made clear that he would not play T20I series as well.
Prior to that, he was only rested for the ODI series, but the same evening, he was rested from T20I series as well. It has been a long time since Kohli has played a professional game and now, he has started training before the team flies to South Africa for the series.
The Indian team will play the third and final T20I of the series against Sri Lanka on December 24 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. On December 28, the players will board the flight to UAE before flying to South Africa. For the first time, the U19 players will also accompany their seniors till Dubai. It would be a boost for the junior side before they go New Zealand to participate in the junior World Cup.
The India tour of South Africa starts January 5. The series comprises of three Tests, six ODIs and three T20Is. The Indian team will face an ardent test there where South African pace attack will test the abilities of Indian batsmen.
In step taken by team management to tackle South African pacers, BCCI had cancelled the tour game because the players are scheduled to reach South Africa only a day when the practice game was to be played. In short, it would have served no purpose due to lack of practice.
Team India will undergo an intense practice session before the international matches begin. The success of the team will heavily depend on Kohli, Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara. In the bowling department, bowlers will have an equal responsibility to bowl more overs and aim to take 20 wickets in the match.
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