Former Australia batsman Brad Hodge has taken an indirect shot at Virat Kohli while speaking about the Indian Test skipper’s decision to rest himself ahead of the highly important fourth Test against Australia.
Hodge states that Indian fans have every reason to feel “pretty dirty” if Virat Kohli plays the Indian Premier League (IPL) season opener on April 5 after giving the series-deciding Dharamsala Test a miss.
Concerned with a shoulder injury, Kohli decided to skip the high octane Test against Australia. Kohli insisted he could bat without issue during a pre-match press conference in Dharamsala but felt that he would risk aggravating the shoulder strain during the five days course of play.
The injury has created a cloud of uncertainty over Virat Kohli’s availability during the initial stages of the upcoming T20 tournament. The superstar batsman will at the helm of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the tournament which begins next month.
“You would think that your captain would get out there and get amongst the fight and get in there,” Hodge said.
“You’d hope as a sportsman that he’s seriously injured. Because if you miss one game of Test match cricket and you’re fronting up the next week for RCB versus whoever … you’d be pretty dirty if he didn’t front up to a Test match and try and win a valuable series against Australia.”
Hodge, who will be performing the role of head coach for the Gujarat Lions side, felt that Kohli and many other players prefer staying fit to play in the league.
“It’s happened before,” Hodge said.
“Not just Virat but there are many players that have come up to IPL time and… look, we know it’s a cash-rich tournament, there’s some money up for grabs.
“There are certain players that will limp in, to IPL time, to make sure they get there and perform well.”
Kohli had a terrible time in the Test series against the Aussies. The right-hander who was on a record breaking spree since last year, faced a lean patch after a long time, scoring just 46 runs from five innings at an average of 9.20. His previous worst average in a Test series was 13.4 against England in 2014.
However, this slump in form has not made Hodge take Kohli easily and feels that it would better if he is not playing against his team. Gujarat Lions will face off Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 18th.
“I’m hopeful, as Gujarat Lions coach that when we play RCB in a couple of weeks, that he’s not playing,” Hodge signed off.