Why is Virat Kohli not playing today’s fifth T20I between New Zealand and India in Mount Maunganui?

Why is Virat Kohli not playing today’s fifth T20I: The Indian captain has been left out of the Playing XI for the last match.

During the fifth T20I of the ongoing India’s tour of New Zealand in Mount Maunganui, regular India captain Virat Kohli has not been included in their Playing XI. Vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who was rested for the fourth T20I in Wellington, will lead the side in Kohli’s absence.

The development was announced by Sharma during the toss. It is worth mentioning that India have won the toss and elected to bat first.

With the aforementioned being the only change for the visitors, it is surprising to see wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant not getting a match in the five-match series.

As far as the hosts are concerned, they will take the field for the second time without regular captain Kane Williamson who is yet to recover from his injury. New Zealand haven’t made any change to their XI from the fourth match.

Why is Virat Kohli not playing today’s fifth T20I between New Zealand and India?

While Sharma didn’t particularly provide any reason for Kohli missing the match, it is fair to assume that the same is a mere rotational move. Another intriguing update from the Indian dugout is regarding Sharma’s new batting position.

“We’ll bat first; I had to think a little bit. It looks like a good pitch and that’s what we want to challenge our team as well to defend totals. We thought of making a few changes, but the combination we played in the last game was very good and we want to continue with that and give them a longer run. It is not always that we get a chance to make it 5-0.

Tough on Rishabh Pant. Samson has to take full advantage of another opportunity if he wants to be remembered by selectors and team management when the next T20 contest comes up

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) February 2, 2020

“The only thing we’ll be worrying about is not being complacent; by no means are New Zealand not a good team and they have been playing really well. We want to be on the money and the last few games were really good for us. Just the one change – I come in for Virat [Kohli] and Sanju [Samson] will open. I will bat at three,” Sharma was quoted as saying during the toss.

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.

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