County over country, Kohli set to miss Ireland T20Is too

Kohli has no option but to stay back and represent Surrey as he has signed a six-match contract with the English side that includes three four-day games and three fifty over matches.

India’s T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (WK), Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav

Rohit, who is the vice-captain of India in limited overs, is no stranger to captaincy. He successfully led India to the Nidahas Trophy in March.

Though an official announcement from the BCCI is still awaited, but it is certain that Rohit Sharma will lead India in the two-match T20 series in Ireland.

India will play two T20Is in Ireland on 27th and 29th June while Kohli’s last match for Surrey is slated to begin on 25th of the same month.

The confusion however, has now been cleared. Kohli will not play the T20I series against Ireland.

Wah Cricket has learned, that the Indian captain will not be available even for the 2nd T20I as his match against Yorkshire will finish on June 28, just a day before India’s 2nd T20I in Ireland.

The venue for the T20Is – Malahide – is 300 miles away from Scarborough, the venue of Kohli’s last county match against Surrey. It is not possible for Kohli to join the team on time.

The adverse reactions were not because the selectors had dropped a senior cricketer or closed the doors on a deserving one.

Therefore it was a given that Kohli will not only miss the historic one-off Test match against Afghanistan but also the T20 series in Ireland. Surprisingly, BCCI named Kohli for the T20I series in Ireland and that created a lot of confusion.

It was clear the Kohli would be in England, playing County cricket for Surrey for the entire month of June, preparing for the following Test series against the Three Lions.

Ever since the national selection committee announced six different Indian squads for the Afghanistan, Ireland and England series, there has been an archaic reaction.

The confusion reigned because of the Indian squad for the two-match T20I series against Ireland that included captain Virat Kohli.