Virat Kohli Signs Up For This Top English County Side, Set To Miss Afghanistan Test

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has his eyes all set on upcoming India’s tour of England which will begin in the first week of July as he joins the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara (Yorkshire) and Ishant Sharma (Sussex) to prepare for the Test series that begins on August 1, 2018.

Kohli Joins Surrey

On Thursday Top English county side Surrey officially announced the deal on their official website declaring that Kohli is joining the London-based team.

ALSO READ: BCCI nominates Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar for National Sports Awards | Can Kohli bag Khel Ratna?

The 29-year-old cricketer who is currently busy playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL said that it was his desire to play county cricket.

“It has long been an ambition of mine to play county cricket and I am thankful to Alec Stewart and Surrey for allowing me the opportunity to join them during their 2018 season,” said Kohli to the official Surrey website,”I can’t wait to get to The Oval [Surrey’s home ground].”

Describing Kohli as “the biggest name in world cricket” Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket said, “Playing and training alongside Virat will be a massive benefit for our players who will have the opportunity to learn so much from him.

According to reports, Kohli will play 6 matches for Surrey- 3 in the Royal London One Day Cup and the other 3 in the County Championship.

Thus, it means that the 29-year-old batsman is all set to miss India’s inaugural Test match against Afghanistan.

After that, the Indian team will head towards England to play 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs in July against England, in Bengaluru on 14 June.

 Toughest Battle Against England

We all know that Kohli was earlier criticized for his poor performance in 2014 as he could just manage 134 runs in 10 innings.

Therefore, it seems that Kohli who is the second-ranked Test batsman in the world is aiming to get used to conditions on English soil in a bid to improve his records ahead of the much-awaited series.

Well! The upcoming England tour is going to be a tough test for the Virat who is leading Indian team since 2014/15 with an impressive record of  21 Test wins from 34 matches.

Moreover, Virat who has won the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC World Cricketer of the Year in 2017 has scored 5554 runs at an average of 53.40 in the longer format.

Though India lost a series to South Africa 2-1 in January, so do you think Virat Kohli and his men can beat England in their home and create history?

Please share your views with us in the comments section below!

,

About Manish Sharma

Of course! A writer. Check out my latest blogs here. Would love to hear your opinions and reviews in the comment box below.
View all posts by Manish Sharma →