Kohli set to miss Afghanistan Test for county stint

Bengaluru, March 24: Virat Kohli is all set to miss the historic Test between India and Afghanistan for a county stint in preparation for the upcoming tour of England.

India will usher in Afghanistan to the world of Tests at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru, from June 14. During that time, Kohli might be playing for either Surrey or Essex.

Kohli has reportedly made the decision to improve his batting in England where he has played five Tests (2014) and scored 134 runs at a paltry 13.4. In 2014, Kohli was opened up by James Anderson and Stuart Broad. India will tour England from July this year.

Virat Kohli 's decision to play county cricket before the England series shows his drive and commitment to achieve excellence. I am sure not only him,but Team India will do exceedingly well in the England series. Best wishes!

— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) March 24, 2018

Surrey, the South London club, has hosted some legends of the game like Waqar Younis in the past and in their ranks have Australians Aaron Finch, Moises Henriques and Mitchell Marsh.

Indian players like Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik had played for Surrey in the past and Kohli will have his teammates Cheteshwar Pujara (Yorkshire) and Ishant Sharma (Sussex) for company in the county circuit as all of them try to get tuned to English conditions. The county championship will get underway from April 7.

If Kohli joins Essex, then he will have players like former England captain Alastair Cook, all-rounder Ravi Bopara, New Zealand pacer Neil Wagner and Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir as teammates.

Though some reports said Kohli is preferring to play for Surrey and he will make himself available for three matches against Hampshire, Somerset and Yorkshire between June 9 and June 28. Kohli is set to fly out to London after the IPL.