Virat Kohli has right to ask for personal leave after 15 years of international cricket: Jay Shah

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BCCI secretary Jay Shah has backed the former India captain for missing the five-Test series against England due to personal reasons. Talking to the media ahead of the third Test, Jay Shah said that Kohli has the right to take personal leave after playing for the nation for 15 years.

Virat Kohli pulled out from the first two Tests first citing personal reasons before making himself unavailable for the final three matches as well. BCCI in an official release said that it respects the decision taken by Kohli and also suggested the fans and media to not speculate anything.

“If somebody is asking for a personal leave in 15 years then it is his right to ask for it. Virat is not that kind of a player that he would ask for a leave without any reason. We must back and trust our players. We will talk about Virat later,” said Shah.

Virat Kohli's former RCB teammate and good friend AB de Villiers on his YouTube channel revealed that the former India captain was expecting his second child with wife Anushka Sharma. However, he retracted from his statement later and also issued an apology.

Further, Jay Shah also said that the advice from National Cricket Academy (NCA) will decide which player should play domestic cricket, adding that the verdict would be final. He also said that chief selector Ajit Agarkar is also unhappy with players not playing Ranji Trophy matches, and that he would be given a free hand to take calls on players throwing tantrums.

“Whatever advice we get from the NCA — say suppose somebody’s body is not able to handle both white-ball and red-ball cricket — so we do not want to impose anything in that regard. (It applies to) whoever is fit and young — we are not going to tolerate any other tantrums. This message is for all centrally contracted players,” Jay Shah said.

“Everyone will have to play, otherwise, the chairman of the selection committee has given me his suggestions and I am going to give him a free hand to let him take his own calls freely,” he added.