Cricket: Virat Kohli To Miss Rest of England Test Series

India batter Virat Kohli will miss the rest of the Test series against England for personal reasons.

The 35-year-old ex-captain previously withdrew from the first two Tests.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Saturday that Kohli also will be absent from the remaining three Tests.

“Virat Kohli will remain unavailable for selection for the remainder of the series due to personal reasons,” the BCCI announced in a statement.

“The board fully respects and supports Mr Kohli’s decision.”

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When missing the first two Tests, the board had said “certain personal situations demand his presence and undivided attention”.

Kohli, who has played 113 Tests for India, is fourth on their list of all-time leading run-scorers with 8,848.

The series is level at 1-1 with three games to play, starting with the third Test in Rajkot on Thursday, 15 February.

Kohli, who led the side in 68 Tests between 2014 and 2022, had not missed a Test for India for more than two years, last doing so when he was ruled out of a match against South Africa in Johannesburg with a back spasm in January 2022.

India won the second Test by 106 runs in Visakhapatnam on Monday to level the series.

Batter Shreyas Iyer, who played in the first two Tests, also did not feature in the 17-man squad named for the remainder of the series.

Spinner Ravindra Jadeja and batter KL Rahul, who both played in the first Test, have returned to the squad but will only play “subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI medical team”, the board added.

India squad for remaining Tests: Rohit Sharma (capt), Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (wk), Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.