Virat Kohli to miss India's first T20I against Afghanistan due to personal reasons

Star India batter Virat Kohli will not make his T20I comeback against Afghanistan on January 11 in Mohali as he is set to miss the first of the three-match T20I series on Thursday due to personal reasons.

Indian head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed the same while speaking in the pre-series press conference on Wednesday. The return of big names like Kohli and Rohit Sharma has attracted mixed reactions in the cricketing fraternity. The duo haven't played T20Is for India ever since their drubbing at the hands of England in the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup.

Kohli had also missed the intra-squad practice game ahead of India's Test series against South Africa reportedly due to a personal emergency.

India’s Squad for 3 T20Is against Afghanistan: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.

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AB de Villiers on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's T20I return

AB de Villiers has been pretty vocal about how he wanted to make a comeback for South Africa during the twilight of his career but the then team management wasn't supportive.

The former legendary South African cricketer welcomed India's move to bring back both Rohit and Kohli in their T20I setup. He believes the Men in Blue need them for the T20 World Cup to be played later this year in the Caribbean and the USA.

Here's what De Villiers said in a video on his YouTube channel:

"I understand (criticism on selection of Rohit and Kohli) but at the end of the day it is a cricket World Cup. If Virat Kohli is good enough, he has to play. I don't care whether he is managing his career due to age. 20-year-olds will understand that the likes of Rohit and Virat are needed to help India win the T20 World Cup. I wish I had that management when I was 35."

Apart from the three T20Is against Afghanistan, the IPL 2024 season could also be a crucial tournament for the selectors to look at, given the T20 World Cup will be played just after that.