Virat Kohli will miss Friday’s first T20I against Afghanistan in Mohali. On the day of the match, India coach Rahul Dravid revealed that Kohli would be absent due to personal reasons.
But would return for the series’ second and third games in Indore and Bengaluru.
Rahul Dravid stated that Virat Kohli will miss the first game owing to personal reasons. He will start the second and third T20Is.
The three-match series against Afghanistan is significant since Kohli and India’s captain
Rohit Sharma will be playing T20Is for the first time since the T20 World Cup semi-final loss to England in November 2022.
During this time, both players took a break from the format to focus on the two lengthier forms,
with India hosting the World Test Championship final and the ODI World Cup in 2023.
There have been a lot of ICC tournaments in the previous 2, or 3 years, according to Rahul Dravid
We’ve had to prioritize different formats, and specific tournaments at various points over the last few years that I’ve been here,
just because of the quantity of cricket that is being played, and just managing the players,
makes it hard for all of the players to be playing all of the time.
As a result, we’ve always had to choose what’s vital, especially for the individuals who play all three forms.
Even in this series, players like Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammed Siraj have been ruled out because of the five Test matches we have against England.
So you’ve been doing a little bit of juggling for the previous two years.
The Afghanistan series is India’s final T20I assignment before the T20 World Cup in the West Indies.
The United States in June, and it is the last opportunity for players to press their claim for the competition outside of the IPL,
which runs from March 29 to May 26.
While Rohit and Kohli have a wealth of experience and knowledge, they may be up against a slew
of new hitters who have stepped into the India team in recent months and demonstrated exceptional talent.
We had prioritized the one-day World Cup for the majority of the last year and following the last T20 World Cup.
In terms of the T20 format, we haven’t played many games since the one-day World Cup, according to Rahul Dravid.
So, from that standpoint, the T20 World Cup is a little unusual in that there hasn’t been much time to prepare for it.
So, we must rely on the cricket that we have. Also, a little bit about the IPL.
The boys, on the other hand, will play T20 cricket.
So they’ll be playing here and in the IPL. We may not have many opportunities to play together, so we’ll have to make do.
All you have to do is adjust and be adaptable.
We had a pretty strong preparation for the one-day World Cup; even before the last T20 World Cup, I believed we had a lot of group games.
We are unlikely to have it this time, therefore we must adjust and go on.
Yashasvi Jaiswal will begin with Rohit in Mohali, according to Rahul Dravid.
With Kohli out, India might shift Shubman Gill, who generally begins the batting, to No. 3, or slot in either Sanju Samson or Tilak Varma.
The entire top six is expected to look strange, with the injured Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya both ruled out of the series.
Also Read: India’s probable starting XI for the first T20I against Afghanistan