Virat Kohli needs time to take a call on the T20Is v Sri Lanka: BCCI

The Indian skipper Virat Kohli has finally been rested after a marathon run at the international circuit. Kohli, who led India in the first two Tests against Sri Lanka, won’t feature in the third Test. And he won’t be taking part in the limited overs series too. Rohit Sharma will lead the Indian side in his absence. The Indian board wants Kohli to get much-needed rest before the important South African tour.

However, it hasn’t been cleared whether he will take part in the T20I series against Sri Lanka. Rookie Shreyas Iyer and pacer Siddharth Kaul has been named in the squad against the Lankans. The BCCI has said that Kohli is yet to take a call on the T20I series.

On Kohli’s availability for the T20I series

“Virat has told the selectors that he needs some time to take a call on whether he will be playing the T20s or not. That’s reason why they have not announced the T20 squad. Virat has some personal commitments till December 12. Post that, whether he would like to take rest or just play T20s will be his call completely,” said a BCCI official, as reported by PTI.

On the preparations for the tour to the rainbow nation

“There is a school of thought that we should do something similar to the 2010 tour of South Africa, when some of the batsmen went 10 days prior to others and did their skill-based training at Gary Kirsten’s academy in Durban. India had their best result in South Africa as they drew the series 1-1. It’s like Australia what did earlier this year when the Test specialists arrived in India early for the series while a new-look T20 team played against Sri Lanka in the T20s. These are some of the areas that may be addressed by the selectors and team management.”