Is Virat Kohli going to skip the high voltage ODI series against South Africa scheduled to start from January 19, 2022? In all likelihood, the answer seems to be a ‘yes’. It is decided that Kohli will not participate in the ODI series according to reports and surprisingly the aggressive batsman has cited the reasons as well for his withdrawal.
A source has told Sports Tak that Kohli has informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) about his decision to not take part in the three-match ODI series slated to start in Paarl. According to the source, Kohli will be unavailable for the three-match ODI series due to personal reasons.
The ODI series will commence on January 19, 2022. The 33-year old Test skipper is reportedly has some personal commitments after the conclusion of Test series. The three-match Test series is scheduled to finish on January 15, 2022.
Off-field issues
But is ‘personal reasons’ the only purpose behind this sudden decision of Kohli’s withdrawal? Recently in a major development, Kohli was removed as the India ODI team captain and Rohit Sharma was appointed as the new leader of the ODI side. The BCCI informed about this change by posting in a tweet only.
Later board president Sourav Ganguly explained the decision saying, the team could not have had two different white-ball skippers. Ganguly even said that he and the board had urged Kohli not to relinquish T20I captaincy but the Test team skipper was determined to resign.
Kohli is yet to officially react to this big development and it is still not clear whether his decision to not take part in the ODI series is only because of his personal reasons or not.
