Virat Kohli: Team India’s star batsmen Virat Kohli and KL Rahul will not be seen in the second round of Ranji Trophy. Kohli has given this information to BCCI.
Virat Kohli: Team India is to be announced today for Champions Trophy 2025. Before this, big news is coming regarding Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. Earlier there was news that this Virat will play for Delhi in Ranji Trophy. His name was also in the team, but now Virat Kohli himself has refused to play. He has given an update regarding this to BCCI along with the reason. At the same time, KL Rahul will also not take part in the matches starting on January 23.
Why did Virat Kohli and Rahul refuse?
According to ESPNcricinfo, Virat Kohli is suffering from neck pain. He took the injection on January 8 after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The pain has not completely healed yet, hence he is out of Delhi’s match against Saurashtra. Whereas KL Rahul has an elbow injury. He will not play in the Ranji match between Karnataka and Punjab.
Can both players play in the next match?
The final round of Ranji Trophy will start from January 30. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul can get a chance to play in this match, provided they are fit by then. Virat and Rahul will no longer be in action. In the second round of Ranji, Rishabh Pant will be seen playing for Delhi, Shubman Gill for Punjab and Ravindra Jadeja for Saurashtra.
Virat Kohli’s Ranji Trophy cricket career
36-year-old Virat Kohli last played a Ranji match in November 2012 against Uttar Pradesh, in which he was dismissed by fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 14 and 42 runs in both the innings. Virat has scored 11,479 runs in 258 innings in 155 first-class matches with 37 centuries and 39 fifties at an average of 48.23, with a best score of 254*.
BCCI made it mandatory to play domestic cricket
Recently BCCI has implemented a policy for Team India, in which all players will be required to play domestic cricket to secure a place in the national team. Players will have to take great care of fitness. The last round of the group stage of Ranji Trophy will start from January 30, which will end around the start of the ODI series against England from February 6.