Why Virat Kohli not playing today: Why is Jasprit Bumrah not playing today’s T20 World Cup warm-up match between India and Australia?

Virat Kohli not playing: India have made three major changes to their Playing XI for their second 2021 T20 World Cup warm-up match.

During the sixth warm-up match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021 between India and Australia in Dubai, Australia captain Aaron Finch has won the toss and chose to bat.

Australia, who had secured a 3-wicket victory in their previous warm-up match against New Zealand after Finch won the toss and opted to bowl on Monday, have hinted at trying things differently before the world event.

“We will bat first. Batted second in the last game, so looking to change things up a bit. It’s going very well at the moment. Josh Hazlewood is the only one who’ll not take the field today. Mitchell Swepson and Josh Inglis aren’t playing as well,” Finch told Star Sports at the toss.

Why is Virat Kohli not playing vs Australia?

Coming on the back of a 7-wicket victory against England, India have made a major change to their Playing XI by resting captain Virat Kohli. Much like Finch, India stand-in captain Rohit Sharma also wanted to bat first after chasing a total against England.

“We wanted to bat first as well, just wanted to try and get runs on the board. We want to make sure that we get the sixth bowling option, some options in the batting order as well, we’ll try all those things today.

“Hardik [Pandya] is coming along pretty well, but it’ll be a while before he will start to bowl. He hasn’t started bowling, but he should be ready by the start of the tournament. We have quality in the main bowlers, but you need an option for a sixth bowler,” Sharma told Star Sports at the toss.

In addition to Kohli, India have also rested fast bowling-pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami for this match. The development means that pacer Shardul Thakur and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will get to play today.

Kohli, who had demoted himself to No. 3 in a 189-run chase on Monday, had departed after scoring a mediocre 11 (13). While Bumrah had leaked just 26 runs in his 4-over spell dismissing Jonny Bairstow (49) in the process, Shami was the pick of the Indian bowlers with bowling figures of 4-0-40-3.

Readers must note that Kohli, Bumrah and Shami have been rested to provide opportunities to other players ahead of India’s tournament-opener against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24.