After neck injury, Virat Kohli undergoes light training in nets at Mumbai
Mumbai: Virat Kohli was back in training at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) facility on Wednesday, less than two weeks after the Team India skipper suffered a neck sprain during a 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) match for franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Kohli, whose stint with English county cricket club Surrey was called off by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) earlier, hit the nets in the presence of assistant Sanjay Bangar, where he trained for a few hours. The 29-year-old is expected to go through the same schedule for the next one week.
Kohli faces a race against time in order to be fit for Team India’s upcoming tours of Ireland and England. The Men in Blue will play two T20Is against Ireland on June 27 and 29 before leaving for England where they take on the hosts in three T20s and three ODIs in July before finishing off with the five-match Test series scheduled for August.
The explosive right-hander will undergo a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore on June 15 and is expected to regain full fitness ahead of India’s foreign assignments. However, it is learnt that Kohli will board the flight to Ireland along with the rest of the team on June 23 and will be back in action.
“He’s begun with a relatively lighter stint at the indoor nets. In a couple of days, he’ll be back on the field and by the end of the first two weeks (of June) – around the15th – he’ll be in Bangalore for the fitness test and to begin training,” a source was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
While there was huge hype surrounding his major county stint, Kohli had to cut short his tie with Surrey in order to manage his workload, moreover, after a neck sprain.
“Surrey was an option; the England tour is a responsibility. He’s taken a break whenever there was a need for it. That’s why he sat out of the last T20 in South Africa and did not play in the Nidahas Trophy. It shows that priorities are well in place. It's unfortunate that Virat hasn't been able to leave for Surrey but recovering fully in time is the more important thing,” the source added.
