The former India opener on Virat Kohli’s absence from the England series: “His absence does not mean…”

NEW DELHI: Star batsman Virat Kohli is currently missing from the present home series against England, but former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has spoken and expressed confidence that India can still win.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has approved Kohli’s decision to skip the last three Test matches. Kohli missed the first two Tests due to personal reasons.
Chopra, who was thinking back on Kohli’s absence, emphasized India’s historic series victory in Australia during the 2020–21 trip, when they won despite Kohli playing in just one of the four Tests.
“I wouldn’t go that far in the absence of Virat (losing the series). To be honest, the arrival or departure of a person does not cause life to halt. In a video posted on YouTube, Chopra said, “Life must go on, the show must go on.”
While acknowledging the importance of Kohli’s absence, Chopra also underlined that India has surmounted obstacles in the past without him. He cited India’s triumph in Australia, where they overcame the hosts while he was away, as evidence of the group’s tenacity.
“While you will undoubtedly miss him, the fact that you beat Australia in Australia while he was away does not indicate that you will lose the series if he is not there. We also damaged Gabba’s dignity when India really lost the Test match in Adelaide while he was there, he continued.
When evaluating Kohli’s possible influence on the current series, Chopra pointed out that England had a decent bowling attack and that the batting conditions were conducive to making a lot of runs.
“Considering the bowling standards and the sort of pitch that was there in Vizag and when we got to bat for the first time in Hyderabad, Kohli would have scored at least one 150 in the two matches because he would not have stopped against this ordinary bowling,” said Chopra.
Chopra also emphasized Kohli’s capacity to dominate bowling assaults, implying that he would have taken advantage of the chances England’s bowlers offered.
“Virat Kohli would not have given you his wicket and would have hit you for four boundaries. Virat Kohli predicts he will score 150–200 runs rather than 50–70 when he encounters a bowling assault like that. That explains how he differs from other people,” he said.
In the meanwhile, BCCI addressed the health of other players in the team and announced that Kohli would stay out of the series for personal reasons.
Following India’s victory in the second Test in Visakhapatnam, the series is presently tied at one. The third Test of the series is scheduled to begin on February 15 at Rajkot.
Hit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep are the Indian team for the next three Test matches against England.