Injury Concern For India Ahead Of Champions Trophy, Virat Kohli Ruled Out Of First IND vs ENG ODI

Virat Kohli has been ruled out of the 1st IND vs ENG ODI match due to a knee problem, captain Rohit Sharma has confirmed. Ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy , India will be involved in a 3-match ODI series against England.

England have won the toss and captain Jos Buttler decided to bat first in Nagpur. Virat was last involved in the Ranji Trophy match as he appeared for Delhi against Railways at the Arun Jaitley Stadium recently. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Harshit Rana will be making their ODI debuts against the Three Lions.

Rohit Sharma said, 'We wanted to bowl first, but it doesn't matter a lot. Need to be aggressive with the ball at the start and then need to do well later. Nice to get some time off, it's a fresh start and this is a great chance to do well. It's very important to get some gametime, try and maximize whatever opportunity we have. Jaiswal and Harshit are making their debuts, unfortunately Virat isn't playing, he had a knee problem last night.'

Virat has been picked up in the India squad for the ICC Champions Trophy and is all set to play a pivotal role for the ‘Men In Blue.’ He top scored in the 2023 ODI World Cup with 765 runs in his tally and also played a gritty knock in the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup final. Virat's recent form in the long-format has been severely criticised, but when it comes to the limited-over format, he still stands to be India's best bet alongside captain Rohit Sharma. Virat is also on the verge of registering another milestone as he needs another 94 runs to breach the 14000 run mark in ODI cricket.

India Playing XI

Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (w), Hardik Pandya , Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami

England Playing XI

Ben Duckett, Philip Salt(w), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(c), Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood