Virat Kohli Skips Intra-squad Fixture Ahead of South Africa Tests, BCCI Fails to Explain Why

Virat Kohli had flown back home due to a family emergency and multiple reports claim that the star India batter skipped the intra-squad game in Pretoria before the Test series vs South Africa.

According to reports, Kohli was granted permission by the team management to skip the practice game and attend the emergency back home. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is tight-lipped on Kohli’s absence from the intra-squad game and is yet to respond to CricketNext’s query.

In another development, opener Ruturaj Gaikwad is likely to miss the two Tests vs South Africa due to a finger injury and India A opener Abhimanyu Easwaran is likely to stay back as cover. Gaikwad played the two ODIs and had outings of 5 and 4 respectively.

“Ruturaj Gaikwad hasn’t fully recovered from the blow he sustained to his ring finger while fielding in the second ODI. He remains under the supervision of the BCCI Medical Team,” a BCCI spokesperson said after the Playing XI for third ODI was announced on Thursday.

The white-ball leg tour culminated with India’s series-clinching victory in the third ODI on Thursday and the action will shift now shift to the Test series which begins with the Boxing Day Test in Centurion from December 26.

India’s Test specialists, under the watch of coach Rahul Dravid, played an intra-squad fixture behind closed doors. Both KL Rahul and Mukesh Kumar, who were part of the ODI series, will now link up with the Test squad and commence preparations for a tough away series.

Last week, wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan was released from the Test squad. An official release from the BCCI cited “personal reasons” and also announced KS Bharat as a replacement.

“Mr Ishan Kishan has requested the BCCI to be released from the upcoming Test series against South Africa citing personal reasons. The wicket-keeper has subsequently been withdrawn from the Test squad,” BCCI said in an official statement.

India’s squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk)