India will miss the services of one of their premier batsmen, Virat Kohli, in the first ODI against England on Tuesday due to a groin injury.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field, and also announced that Kohli won’t participate in this fixture at the Kennington Oval, London. Rohit also confirmed that Shreyas Iyer will bat at number 3 in place of Kohli.
Reports of Kohli’s injury had been surfacing from the day before the game. A report in PTI stated that Kohli had sustained a groin injury during the third T20I on Sunday at Trent Bridge.
UPDATE: Virat Kohli and Arshdeep Singh were not considered for selection for the first ODI against England.
Virat has a mild groin strain while Arshdeep has right abdominal strain. The BCCI Medical Team is monitoring them.#TeamIndia | #ENGvIND
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 12, 2022
UPDATE: Virat Kohli and Arshdeep Singh were not considered for selection for the first ODI against England.Though the former captain made it to the ground on matchday along with the rest of the team, he wasn’t seen practising ahead of the toss and finally declared not fir for the encounter.
Virat Kohli scored only 12 runs in the two T20Is
The first ODI would have presented Kohli with a good opportunity to return to form amid a horror individual tour of England.
He had scored only 1 run in the second T20I, and then came out all guns blazing in the third T20I, smashing a four and a six to left-arm pacer David Willey, but played one shot too many and gave a catch to Jason Roy at cover, departing for 11 runs off 6 balls. He had managed scores of 11 and 20 in the Edgbaston Test earlier this month.
The seriousness of the injury is not clear yet and this has put his participation in the second and third ODI, scheduled for Thursday at Lord’s and Sunday at Old Trafford respectively, also in doubt.
Although Kohli’s Test and T20 form has been under a cloud, the 33-year-old has remained consistent in ODI cricket; despite the lack of a century, Kohli averages 39 in ODI cricket since the start of 2020 and has notched up 9 half-centuries in his last 18 ODI innings, including two in South Africa earlier this year.
Netizens on Twitter were left disappointed with the absence of Kohli, while some fans have developed a conspiracy theory that Kohli has been dropped but the management cannot let the fans know it and hence stated an injury excuse.
Here are some of the reactions of fans on Kohli being ruled out from the first ODI:
Virat Kohli is not playing in the first ODI. #ViratKohli
— ठाकुर_पिया_सिंह
(@piasing44854248) King Kohli
— AjithSadha (@AjithSadha) July 12, 2022
is not playing.. then ODI officially starts from next game for us..Bhai waise Kohli ni khel raha to kam se kam ek sukoon hai ki uske out hone ke baad wala dukh bhi aaj ni hoga
— DV
Virat has a mild groin strain while Arshdeep has a right abdominal strain. The BCCI Medical Team is monitoring them.#TeamIndia | #ENGvIND | #KingKohli | #ViratKohli
— Aman Parihar (@imAmanparihar) July 12, 2022
UPDATE: Virat Kohli and Arshdeep Singh were not considered for selection for the first ODI against England.Zindagi Virat Kohli ho rkhi hai na run bnrhe na kismat chal rhi hai
— Achales (@achalsharma2512) July 12, 2022
Virat Kohli has been dropped!
If true, this is a rare scenario in indian cricket. #INDvsENG #ViratKohli #KingKohli— Ayush Kumar Khamari (@AyushKhamari5) July 12, 2022
Chalo aj kohli kohli wala torture nai hoga twitter pe. People are obsessed with the guy
— Archer (@poserarcher) July 12, 2022
Hell with your politics Bcci
Kohli is not playing so easily said by Sharma ji ke ladke ne
— Vaibhav S (@vaibhavuber007) July 12, 2022
Kohli sahab
— Amit (@ImRo745) July 12, 2022
No Kohli
— HITMAN
He will never play T20 & ODI from Now , he performance is utter nonsense.
LOVER Very good decision
Keep Kohli out of the team forever— Anti-Hÿpôčřîťę
(@ChahiyeKisko) Kohli dropped advantage England
— TCD (New acc) (@TCDaFuture) July 12, 2022
Anna @imVkohli
— Jane (@iamjane_k) July 12, 2022
Me if Kohli is dropped under the garb of injury pic.twitter.com/qbK6QdlJGU
— Prithvi (@Puneite_) July 12, 2022
