In a surprising turn of events, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant will no longer be a part of the Indian team for the upcoming T20I against the West Indies.
Both the batters had a great outing on Friday as they smashed fifties to help their team get a good score. Owing to a bristling knock of Venkatesh Iyer at the back end of the inning, India posted 186 runs on the board.
West Indies, too was in for a feast. With Roman Powell and Nicolas Pooran scoring extraordinary fifties, they were not far from winning the game.
An excellent spell of Bhuvneshwar Kumar alongside a pitch-perfect final over by Harshal Patel turned the game in India’s favor.
In recent times, both Kohli and Pant were struggling for runs. And this inning would have made them feel a lot better. Even the fans were waiting to see them bat again shortly. But that is not going to happen any soon now.
BCCI resting Kohli and Pant as a part of work load management
BCCI has decided to rest them to manage the workload. The bubble life is not easy by any means; we have seen examples of it in the past. As a result, Kohli and Pant are released from the team bubble immediately.
They are said to be given a 10-day off. This means that we will not see the duo play against Sri Lanka.
In a conversation with PTI, a BCCI official said, “Yes, Kohli has left for home on Saturday morning as India has already won the series. As it has been decided by BCCI, it will be a policy to give all players periodic breaks from bubble to ensure that their workload management and mental health is taken care of.”
There can be other players as well who might be rested for the Sri Lanka series. The team for the same will be released later this afternoon.
India will take on Sri Lanka for 3 T20Is, starting from the 24th of February.
