Virat Kohli missed the first T20I of the three-match series vs Afghanista n on Thursday but will feature in the 2nd T20I to be played at Holkar stadium in Indore on Sunday, January 14. It was earlier reported that Kohli skipped the first match for birthday. of his daughter Vamika, who was on 11th of this month. However, BCCI never said the same thing with head coach Rahul Dravid revealing that Kohli is not playing the 1st match due to personal reasons.
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On Saturday, Kohli left Mumbai for Indore and was spotted by photojournalists at the airport. Kohli arrived at the Mumbai airport in a super luxury car which costs around Rs 1.32 crore. Kohli traveled from his house to the airport in a Mercedes-Benz GLS 450 4MATIC current which has starting price Rs 1.32 crore (ex-showroom).
Watch Kohli’s lavish car here:
King Kohli on his way to Indore.
– The GOAT returns tomorrow…!!! _pic.twitter.com/CQFQvpp5i8 — Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 13, 2024
In the first T20I, India made short work of Afghanistan, beating them by 6 wickets as Shivam Dube shone with both bat and ball. Dube stroked match-winning unbeaten 60 off 40 balls to help India chase down 159 runs with plenty of balls remaining. Dube also picked one wicket with the ball in hand, which is great news for Indian management as they desperately look for fast-bowling all-rounder like Hardik Pandya.
Kohli’s return to the Indian playing 11 strengthens the team. However, one needs to see who he replaces him in the XI now with Dube performing so well in the 1st T20I. Not to forget, Yashasvi Jaiswal had also missed the first T20I due to a niggle and if he is fit, the first-choice opener should be back in XI as well. If Jaiswal and Kohli play the 2nd T20I, we might see Shubman Gill and Tilal Varma making way for them.
India’s playing 11 could look like this for 2nd T20I: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar.
It will be interesting to see how Kohli fares in the 2nd T20I as he marks his return to the format internationally after a long gap. Kohli, Rohit both did not play T20Is after the T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal loss as Hardik Pandya led the team in this period. That was because these two modern greats from India focused on Tests and ODIs as it was the Cricket World Cup 2023 year. Now with T20 World Cup 2024 approaching, Rohit and Virat have returned to lead India again.
