Why Kohli not playing today: Why is Virat Kohli not playing today’s 1st ODI between England and India at The Oval?

Dixit Bhargav | 12/07/2022
Why Kohli not playing today: Why is Virat Kohli not playing today's 1st ODI between England and India at The Oval?

Why Virat Kohli not playing: The former Indian captain might regain fitness before the second ODI on Thursday.

During the first ODI of the ongoing India’s tour of England at The Oval, India captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and chose to bowl.

“We are going to bowl first. There is some grass cover and it’s overcast as well. I guess sun will be out in sometime. We want to have a score in front of us. [Mohammed] Shami, [Jasprit] Bumrah – those guys can swing the ball. It’s important to take wickets upfront and put brakes on the scoring,” Sharma told Sky Sports at the toss.

Much like Sharma, England captain Jos Buttler was also aiming at bowling first. Coming on the back of a 1-2 T20I series loss, Buttler welcomed the return of multi-format players namely Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Ben Stokes.

“We would have done the same thing, we would have bowled first. I am learning a lot about myself, and about my role. Looking forward to the ODI series, it has been a great learning experience,” Buttler told Sky Sports at the toss.

Why Virat Kohli not playing today vs England?

Playing an ODI after five months, India have made five changes from their Playing XI which had played against West Indies in Ahmedabad.

Former captain Virat Kohli, all-rounder Washington Sundar, spinner Kuldeep Yadav and pacers Deepak Chahar and Mohammed Siraj have made way for all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, fast bowlers Bumrah and Shami and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

While Sundar, Yadav and Chahar are not part of India’s 17-member squad for this series, Kohli is missing this match due to a groin injury. Siraj, on the other hand, will be warming the bench alongside the likes of Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur. Picked in the ODI squad for the first time, fast bowler Arshdeep Singh has also suffered a right abdominal strain ahead of this ODI.

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
England India India tour of England 2022 Virat Kohli

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Don’t miss these