Neck injury shelves Kohli’s county stint

New Delhi :  Virat Kohli’s much-hyped stint for English county side Surrey has been shelved after the India skipper suffered a neck injury and will subsequently undergo a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru on June 15.

Kohli had earlier signed up with Surrey for the month of June and was set to skip the historic first Test match against Afghanistan next month, to prepare for India’s challenging tour to England in July.

According to a BCCI statement, Kohli suffered the injury while fielding during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) penultimate league game against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

“Kohli, who was scheduled to play for Surrey CCC in the month of June, has been ruled out from participating. This decision was taken following assessments by the BCCI medical team, subsequent scans, and a specialist visit,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said.

“The Team India captain will now undergo a period of rehabilitation under the supervision of the BCCI medical team.

“He will begin training and subsequently undergo a fitness test at the NCA in Bengaluru from June 15. The BCCI medical team is confident that Kohli will regain full fitness ahead of India’s upcoming tours to Ireland and England,” the statement added.

With the fitness test to take place on June 15, Kohli was obviously ruled out of the five one-day matches for Surrey from May 27 to June 6.

Add to that Surrey’s four-day game against Hampshire starts on June 9. If Kohli did go after getting the green signal in the fitness test, the India skipper would have just a game against Somerset from June 20 and Surrey’s next encounter before he was back with India for the Ireland T20I.

The two T20Is against Ireland on June 27 and 29, precedes the tour to England, which comprises five Tests, three ODIs and as many T20Is.

Published on: May 24, 2018 at 16:36 IST

IANS