Former India cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar wants Virat Kohli to play in County Championshiop on England soil before the five-Test series starting on June 20. Manjrekar feels that it will turn out to be valuable match practice for the 36-year-old. However, Manjrekar does not seem to know that there is not enough time in the schedule to fit a single County game, leave alone a few.
"Kohli needs to play a lot of red-ball cricket. The first Test in England is in June, while the County Championship begins in April. He could join a county team, as Pujara did, and gain valuable match practice," Manjrekar said in the latest episode of Star Sports' Deep Point podcast.
"India can then evaluate his performances in the initial Test matches. If there are positive signs, he can continue. But the last thing you want is Kohli going there and struggling, as we've seen before. That wouldn't be good for Indian cricket. Playing county cricket could be a very sensible move for him," he added.
The next season of County Championship Division One and Two will begin on April 4. Kohli and most of India's international cricketers will be busy playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The IPL 2025 will begin on March 21 and the final on May 25. After the IPL 2025 final, the next round of County matches will begin on June 22.
There will be no County matches for nearly a month after the IPL 2025 final. And India's five-Test series will begin on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds. This means Kohli won't be able to play County cricket even if he wants to.
Kohli's Ranji return unlikely, may play red-ball format directly on England tour
After the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) made it mandatory for cricketers to play domestic cricket, Kohli could not make his comeback to Ranji Trophy after more than a decade. Kohli took an injection in the neck a few days after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 loss in Sydney. Kohli has informed the medical staff that he won't be available to play in Delhi's next Ranji Trophy clash against Saurashtra.
Kohli is unlikely to feature in the last round of Ranji Trophy 2024-25 group stage matches as well. The last round of group stage will begin on January 30. This will leave very less time for a player to recover and play in the ODI series at home against England which begins on February 6. Until and unless, there is a red-ball match arranged by the BCCI or the England Cricket Board (ECB) after the IPL 2025, Kohli is likely to play in the long format before the next cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle.