Before being ruled out from the first ODI between India and England, a tightly strapped Virat Kohli was spotted giving it his all during a fitness test in Nagpur on February 6 (Thursday). At the toss, Rohit Sharma revealed that Kohli would not be playing in the first ODI, stating that the star batter was dealing with a sore right knee. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was making his ODI debut with Harshit Rana, took Kohli's place in the squad. Following his disappointing performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia and his shortcomings in the home Test matches against New Zealand, Kohli was looking to make amends in the series.
The top batter did return to the domestic circuit and play for Delhi during the India vs England T20Is. However, Kohli was removed after just six runs in the Ranji Trophy encounter against Railways. Before the Champions Trophy, the England ODIs were thought to be the ideal opportunity for Kohli to settle into a groove.
Kohli tried to prove fitness
Just before the first ODI began on Thursday, the batting great was spotted in Nagpur attempting to demonstrate his fitness. During his initial warm-up runs, the star batter was obviously favouring his right leg, as the video demonstrated. Kohli tried jogging despite having his knee heavily wrapped, but the star batter was obviously in discomfort and eventually informed the coaches that he would have to miss the match in Nagpur.
Kohli's training sessions demonstrated his reputation as one of the world's fittest cricket players. In his international career, the top batter has only missed six games because of injury worries. The first occurred during the fourth Test match against Australia in Dharamsala in 2017, and the second occurred during the T20I series against South Africa in February 2018. In July of the same year, Kohli would miss the first ODI against England and the Johannesburg Test match against South Africa in 2022. Due to a neck issue, Kohli would also miss the Delhi vs Saurashtra Ranji Trophy match.
India bowled out England on 248 runs with Harshit Rana and Ravindra Jadeja taking three wickets each. Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell smashed crucial fifties to help their team reach a respectable total.