BCCI and CoA divided over Virat Kohli's decision to skip one-off Test against Afghanistan

The Indian skipper Virat Kohli is all set to play County cricket soon after the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season ends. He took the decision in order to get acclimatised to the conditions and improve his record in the country which has been dismal. But in the process, the cricketer will miss the historic one-off Test match against Afghanistan which is scheduled to be played in Bangalore. However, the BCCI has now opposed this decision of Kohli and wants him to play against the Test debutants.

The Indian team is all set to visit England for 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs and 5 Test matches which is being considered as the toughest period for them. While their record in the limited overs format in the country has been excellent, they have struggled immensely in whites. Moreover, Kohli has historically struggled against swinging ball in the country and he badly wants to be successful this time around by leading from the front. But it remains to be seen if he will be able to play the County cricket now.

Why is BCCI against?

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) and the BCCI are divided over the issue as the latter feel that the skipper missing the international match will send the wrong message to Afghanistan.

“If a decision has been taken to allow the India captain to miss an international game and play County cricket at that point of time, it would set a very bad precedent. It would give a very bad message to the visiting Afghanistan team; that maybe the opponents aren’t worthy for us. It would be disrespectful to the Afghanistan team and also, it would be unfair on the broadcaster,” the BCCI official told Times of India on Friday.

Kohli is most likely to play for Surrey or Essex ahead of the England tour and the Test match against Afghanistan is scheduled on June 14. He had decided to be available for his County side for around 4 matches before the tour kicks off on July 1 with the shortest format of the game.

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