Kohli ready to shoulder burden
Virat Kohli, who missed the first three games of the 2017 Indian Premier League due to a shoulder injury, has been declared fit and will be available for selection in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s next game against Mumbai Indians on April 14.
Kohli, who sustained the shoulder injury during the third Test against Australia in Ranchi, missed the Dharamsala Test and did not play in the first three games of the 2017 edition against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab.
The BCCI issued a statement which stated that the medical team had confirmed that the Indian skipper had undergone rehabilitation and had regained match fitness.
The Indian cricket board had released a statement on Tuesday by saying that Kohli would be assessed by the board’s medical team in the second week of the league to determine if he was ready to play.
“The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) medical team on Wednesday confirmed that Indian Cricket Team and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Mr. Virat Kohli has regained match fitness,” a BCCI statement read.
“He will now be available for RCB’S next match against Mumbai Indians on April 14 in Bengaluru.
“The India captain had undergone rehabilitation after sustaining an injury to his right shoulder and has now recovered to be able to participate in VIVO IPL 2017.”
Kohli himself announced that he would only return to action if he felt that he was 120 per cent fit. A couple of days back, he had uploaded a video of himself lifting weights over his head to indicate his return to fitness and also let his fans know when they would see him in action.
Royal Challengers Bangalore would be aiming to bounce back after suffering a heavy loss to Kings XI Punjab in their second game at the Holkar stadium in Indore. The match saw the comeback of AB de Villiers, who had missed the first two games due to a back injury.
Kohli’s side, who have lost Australia paceman Mitchell Starc and India opener Lokesh Rahul to injuries, have lost two of their three matches in the April 5-May 21 tournament.
The India skipper was the top run-getter in last year’s edition, slamming 973 runs which was the by far the most a batsman has hit in an IPL season. He has scored 4110 runs over the last nine seasons and lies second in the list of IPL’S all-time top rungetters’ list just behind Suresh Raina. He has four centuries, one less than Chris Gayle’s five.