Virat Kohli Suffers Injury, Say Sources; County Stint May Be Cut Short

There are doubts over India captain Virat Kohli's upcoming stint with English county side Surrey taking off after the 29-year-old was diagnosed with a herniated disc, according to BCCI sources. "Virat has a herniated disc which might force him to miss county matches," BCCI sources told NDTV. Kohli was signed by the English county team side Surrey for June ahead of India's tour to England. However, according to news agency PTI, a top BCCI official, who is privy to Kohli's county engagements, clarified that it is a case of "neck sprain" and not a "slip disc injury" as reported.

"Yes, Virat has had fatigue issues and this is a case of workload management rather than injury management. But it isn't a case of slip disc. As of now, we will be monitoring his workload," the senior official told PTI on condition of anonymity.

"We are chalking a plan wherein his county stint will be curtailed. He will play two four-day matches as per the original plan and not the five Royal London Cup (50 over) matches," he added.

When pressed further on the reported slip disc injury, the official replied: "Yesterday, Virat posted his fitness video as part of the Government's 'Fitness Challenge'. I can tell you that the video was shot yesterday."

Kohli had signed the deal with Surrey in his bid to prepare for a long England tour, starting in July.

The Indian skipper will also miss the one-off Test against Afghanistan, scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on June 14. He will also miss the two T20 Internationals against Ireland, scheduled to be played ahead of England tour.

If he will declared fit for his county stint, the India skipper will become the sixth Indian player to represent Surrey in the English county.

Zaheer Khan was the first Indian player to make an appearance for Surrey in 2004. Harbhajan Singh (2005 and 2007), Anil Kumble (2006), Pragyan Ojha (2011) and Murali Karthik (2012) are the other Indian cricketers to have played for Surrey.

Since his Test debut in 2011, Kohli has scored 5554 Test runs at an average of 53.40. He also has 9588 ODI runs under his belt at an average of 58.10.

Kohli, who led Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018 Indian Premier League, was his team's highest run-getter. The captain scored 530 runs in 14 matches at an average of 48.18.