I'm not a robot. You can slice my skin and check I bleed: Virat Kohli

Kolkata, November 15: India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday (November 15) said when he feels he needs rest, he will avail it.

Reports have been circulating that Kohli has asked the Indian selectors for rest after the second Test against Sri Lanka and for the succeeding ODI series.

"Definitely I do need rest, why don't I need rest? When I think of the time my body should be rested, I'll ask for it. I am not a robot. You can slice my skin and check I bleed," said Kohli.

Asked about managing the workload with all-rounder Hardik Pandya being rested for the first two Tests, Kohli said players who give that much extra on the field need rest.

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"This is one thing which I don't think people explain properly. There is a lot of talk from the outside in terms of workload -- whether a player should be rested or should not be rested.

"All cricketers play 40 games in a year. Three guys who should get rest, their workloads are to be managed. 11 players play the game but not everyone would have batted 45 overs in an ODI game or not everyone would have bowled 30 overs in a Test match," Kohli said.

"But the ones who are doing it regularly need to be assessed because the body takes that much time to recover. People only look at 'oh everyone has played 40 games'. They don't look at time spent on the crease.

"The number of runs that have been run between the wicket, the number of overs bowled in difficult conditions, what were the conditions, what were the temperatures like, have the bodies recovered or not -- I don't think people go into that analysis.

"So from the outside it looks like 'why are people asking for rest, everyone has played same number of games'.

"But not everyone has the same kind of workload in every game. Only those who have major workload. For example Pujara during a Test season he will have maximum workload because he spends so much time at the crease.

"His game is built that way. So you can't compare that to a counter-attacking batsman, because the workload would have been lesser.

"So I think all these things have to be taken into consideration. Purely because of the fact that we have built such a strong core team now of 20-25 players, you don't want important players breaking down at important times for the team," Kohli said.