Virat Kohli’s decision to leave the series after the conclusion of the first Test match in Adelaide should be respected as he wants to attend the birth of his first child according to CA interim Chief Executive Nick Hockley.
Virat Kohli’s unavailability was on cards ever since the pregnancy was announced said Nick Hockley besides adding that CA was working hard on pushing crowd limits for India tour.
Virat Kohli and Anushka
Virat Kohli Granted Paternity Leave By BCCI
In a release on Monday, BCCI said that Virat Kohli has been granted paternity leave to attend the birth of his first child after playing the 1st test in upcoming Australia tour. After the commencement of the extravagant IPL 2020 in UAE, the Indian team will fly for the much-anticipated tour of Australia on November 11 or November 12, which starts with a 3-match ODI series from November 27.
The Virat Kohli-led team is set to leave for the Australia tour comprising of 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is and 4 Tests this week and will undergo a strict 14-day quarantine period in Sydney where they will also be training for their upcoming matches after undergoing tests and if found negative. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced a revised squad for all the three formats- ODI, T20I and Test series in Australia after receiving injury reports and updates from the BCCI Medical Team.
Virat Kohli (Image Credit: IPL)
The highlight of BCCI’s latest team update for Australia tour was the absence of captain Virat Kohli from the last 3 Test matches of the 4-match series as his wife Anushka Sharma is expecting first child.
BCCI informed that, “At the selection committee meeting held on October 26th, 2020, Mr Virat Kohli had informed the BCCI about his plans to return to India after the first Test in Adelaide. The BCCI has granted paternity leave to the Indian captain. He will return after the first Test against Australia in Adelaide.”
The absence of the Indian skipper can be a big blow in Team India’s quest to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, while fans in Australia might also be disheartened.
Virat Kohli has a love-hate relationship with the Australian public which is not a hidden fact and his presence would have generated an increasing interest amongst the fans abroad. But CA interim Chief Executive Nick Hockley has backed Indian skipper’s decision to take paternity leave and said that the board always knew that the batsman’s unavailability was always on cards since the news of pregnancy came in.
“I think when the pregnancy was announced it was always on the cards and we have to respect the fact he wants to be there for the birth of his first child,” Nick Hockley told Australian radio station SEN on Tuesday.
Notably, Virat Kohli is expecting the birth of his first child in January 2021. The other decisions were the inclusion of Sanju Samson as a backup keeper in ODIs and inclusion of Rohit Sharma in Test squad. Varun Chakravarthy’s shoulder injury forced BCCI to replace the spinner with pacer T Natarajan in T20Is.
CA Looking To Increase Capacities In The Stadiums During Series
Further, Nick Hockley added that Cricket Australia was also exploring other options like increasing crowd capacities in the stadiums for the upcoming blockbuster series between the two sides. He also asserted that maintaining safety will be the key. This will be the first full-fledged series of India after the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re going to give all priority to safety but we’ll continue to work with the authorities to see if we can’t increase those capacities a bit as we move forward,” he said.
Nick Hockley
India are at the top of ICC World Test Championship Table with 360 points followed by Australia who have 296 points. Last time, when the two sides met in Australia, India had won the 4-match Test series in 2018/2019 by 2-1 with Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara scoring more than 500 runs. But Steven Smith and David Warner were the notable absentees since they were serving a year-long ban for ball-tampering allegations.
