If Virat Kohli Wants Rest For Tri-Nation Series, He Will Get It: BCCI Official
India will face Sri Lanka in the opening match of the triangular Twenty20 tournament.
- Posted by Abhishek Mahajan
- Updated: February 21, 2018 11:33 PM IST
Highlights
- India will play tri-series in Sri Lanka after SA tour
- The first match will be played on March 6
- Apart from India and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh will take part in the series
Virat Kohli's workload is expected to be a topic of discussion when the national selection committee headed by MSK Prasad will meet this weekend to pick the Indian squadfor the Nidahas Trophy triangular Twenty20 International tournament in Sri Lanka, starting March 6. According to a top BCCI official, Kohli will decide himselfwhether he wants rest for the upcoming tri-series and his request will definitely be considered if the demand arises.
"If Virat wants rest, he will get it. In Virat's case, it's he who decides on whether he would like to opt out or not. But you never know he might just want to play the T20 series as this is the last tourney of the season. Once the tournament is over, he will get a fortnight off before the Indian Premier League," a top BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
India will face Sri Lanka in the opening match of the triangular Twenty20 tournament. Apart from India and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh will also be participating in the three-nation tournament. The tournament has been organised in order to mark the 70th anniversary of Sri Lanka's independence. The matches will be played under lights at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
In three Tests against South Africa, Kohli was the highest run-getter. He scored 286 runs at an average of 47.66, including one century and one half-century. The Indian skipper carried on the same show in the ODIs too, scoring 558 runs at a staggering average of 186. The run-machine slammed three centuries and one fifty in the six-match series.
However, Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah, who have been India's star performers across formats, are likely to get a much-needed rest ahead of the long season that starts with the Indian Premier League.
Bhuvneshwar has bowled around 100 overs including the Test and ODI series.
If he bowls his full quota in T20 Internationals, he will end up with 112 overs under his belt.
But no one would have bowled more than Bumrah, who is one of the three players (apart from Kohli and Hardik Pandya) to have played all the matches in the tour so far.
If Bumrah also bowls his full quota of overs in the three T20Is, he would have bowled more than 166 overs, which is a lot of overs in international cricket.
In case, Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar are rested, Shardul Thakur and Jaydev Unadkat are expected to shoulder the responsibilities of new ball.
(With PTI inputs)