Cape Town, Jan 10: India captain Virat Kohli on Monday said he will return to the team for the series-deciding third Test against South Africa here as he is “absolutely fit” but ruled out the participation of pacer Mohammed Siraj.
The skipper feels that he has been playing for so long across all three formats that people almost took this for granted that he can never miss a match and will play “every game that India plays” which is practically impossible.
Kohli, who missed the second Test because of an upper back spasm, had nets with the rest of the team at Newlands on Sunday. “I am absolutely fit,” Kohli said at the pre-match press conference.
However, he added that Siraj will not feature in the game after he suffered a hamstring injury in Johannesburg, where India lost by seven wickets. “Siraj is obviously recovering from the (hamstring) niggle he had in the last game and at present, I don’t think he is match-ready to take the field in the third Test.
“You cannot obviously risk a guy who is not at 110 per cent as a fast bowler and we know how important that is as the little niggle he had can extend into an injury,” the skipper said. “Siraj is not up to the mark,” he added.
However, the skipper did not say whether Ishant Sharma will get the nod ahead of Umesh Yadav. “As I said, we are yet to sit down, myself, the head coach and vice-captain to decide what we want to do about replacement,” he said.
“I say that because of our bench strength and it’s difficult for us to figure out as everyone is bowling well, batting well, these things become a point of contention and we need to have a healthy discussion on a decision on that and just that everyone feels balanced (okay) about it,” he explained.
The Indian skipper said that there would have been a point when there would be injuries especially for a person like him who plays every match with highest intensity across three formats. “Our focal point was to be as fit as possible and to be the fittest version of myself but reality of the situation is that we do play a lot of cricket and there is no denying that.” (PTI)
