"Virat Kohli's family..." Former England Skipper reveals stunning details
Virat Kohli opted out of the first two Tests of the five-match series against England citing personal reasons and now he is set to miss the next two Tests also that are scheduled to be played in Rajkot and Ranchi respectively.
Virat’s former RCB teammate and South African legend AB de Villiers confirmed that Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma are expecting the arrival of their second child and that is the reason for his absence from this Test series. Former England skipper Nasser Hussain has said that the Indian team will miss Virat Kohli’s services in the series.
The five-match Test series is currently tied at 1-1 with the visitors winning the first match in Hyderabad by 28 runs and then the hosts making a comeback in the second Test and winning it by 106 runs.
Team India performed brilliantly in Vizag to win the second Test against England by a huge margin and level the series at 1-1. India and England will face each other in the third Test of the series at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot commencing on February 15, Thursday.
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Former England skipper while prioritising family and private life, mentioned that it will be a huge blow for India as Virat Kohli will not be available for the third and fourth Test of the series.
“Kohli and his family and his private life have to come first, so it’s a blow for India, but as we’ve seen, they’ve got a lot of very good young batters,” Hussain said on SkySports.
Nasser Hussain feels that star batter KL Rahul will return to the squad in the third Test. He missed the second Test after complaining of pain in his right quadriceps but has been recovering well and fast to feature in the third Test.
“But KL Rahul, who was injured for the last game, played brilliantly in the last few months for India and in all formats. I think he’ll come back in, so he’ll add to their batting,” Hussain added.
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Nasser Hussain Feels Virat Kohli’s Absence From The Test Series Will Be A Huge Blow For World Cricket
“It will be a blow for India, blow for the series, blow for World Cricket. It’s gonna be a special series, already has been the first two games have been fascinating, and make no mistake, Virat Kohli is one of the greatest batters to ever play the game and any series, and any side would miss someone of that stature,” he added.
Virat Kohli was the highest run-getter for India in the last Test series against South Africa and has been one of the greatest players of red-ball for India. His absence may leave a negative impact on India’s middle-order and given Shreyas Iyer’s form who is played at No.4 in his absence in the second Test, it can put the team in a spot of bother.
Most of the Indian batters are struggling with form including the likes of skipper Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill who scored a century in his last innings but has not been in his best form since the past 12 innings, and Shreyas Iyer.
Apart from these first-choice batters, KS Bharat has failed to score a single fifty-plus score since his debut and he has only contributed to the team as a wicketkeeper which is not enough in modern-day cricket.
India has not lost a home Test series since 2012 and has won 16 consecutive Test series at home. England was the last team to defeat India in a Test series in India which came back in 2012 as Sir Alastair Cook led the England side to a 2-1 victory against India.
England is hoping to recreate the same results whereas India wants to continue their unbeaten streak.
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