India vs Afghanistan: Virat Kohli to miss 1st T20I in Mohali due to personal reasons, says Rahul Dravid
India vs Afghanistan: Speaking to the press on the eve of the first T20I in Mohali, head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed Virat Kohli would miss the series opener and that he would be available for selection in 2nd T20I and 3rd T20Is.
In Short
- Virat Kohli did not travel to Mohali for the first T20I against Afghanistan
- Kohli will join the team for the 2nd and 3rd T20I, confirmed Dravid
- Rohit Sharma will lead India in the 3 T20Is, starting January 11
Head coach Rahul Dravid said on Wednesday, January 10 confirmed that Virat Kohli will not be available for selection for the first of the upcoming 3-match T20I series against Afghanistan due to personal reasons. India and Afghanistan will meet in the bilateral series from January 11 with the series opener set to be played in Mohali.
Speaking to the press on the eve of the first T20I, coach Rahul Dravid said that Kohli will join the squad for the 2nd and 3rd T20Is which will be held in Indore and Bengaluru on January 14 and 17, respectively.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were picked for the T20I series after weeks of speculation about their future in the shortest format of the game. Rohit and Kohli last played a T20I in November 2022 during the T20 World Cup semi-final in Adelaide. The two batters, along with KL Rahul, focused on ODI and Test in the 50-over World Cup year in 2023.
However, it emerged that both Rohit and Kohli made themselves available for selection ahead of the New Year's T20I series against Afghanistan. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar traveled to Cape Town during the 2nd of a 2-match Test series between India and South Africa in the first week of January to know the two senior batters' plans in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.
Rohit Sharma was named the captain of the T20I side for the series against Afghanistan. Notably, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav led India in T20Is in 2023 in the absence of Rohit. Both Hardik and Suryakumar missed the T20I series against Afghanistan due to injuries.
WHY IYER AND ISHAN ARE MISSING?
Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid also confirmed that the absence of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from the T20I squad for the Afghanistan series was not due to disciplinary issues as the head coach refuted media reports that claimed otherwise.
Dravid said that there was no space for a batter like Shreyas Iyer while confirmed that Ishan had not yet made himself available for selection after seeking a break ahead of the Test series in South Africa due to personal reasons.
"Certainly, in Shreyas Iyer's case, there is absolutely no disciplinary reason for his non-inclusion. It's just that he missed out. There were a lot of batters in the team. Shreyas missed out, he didn't play the T20Is in South Africa if you noticed. They are a lot of batters and it's not easy to fit everyone," Dravid said.
India T20I Squad for Afghanistan Series
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.