With party time ending for the Indian captain Virat Kohli, it is time for him to get his cricket pads and gloves on and lead the Blue army for the upcoming South African tour. However, it is not a big problem for Kohli to switch from his party mode to athlete mode. While addressing the media on Wednesday, Kohli said “I was away for something which was much more important, switching back to cricket was not difficult at all, cricket is in my blood.” India would be going on the South African tour which would start next year in January. The series will start from January 2. India will play South Africa in a three-match ‘Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela’ Test series, six-match One-Day International series followed by three Twenty20 Internationals.
Also, when asked about how tough this tour is going to be for the Indian team, he said that we are not going there to make a point but too play cricket instead. “We are not going out there to prove something to someone, we are just going out there to play cricket and give 100% for the country,” Kohli said.
The Test series, first of the long away season for India, will start from January 2 to January 28 next year. Three Test matches between the Proteas and the Indian team will be played at Newlands, Cape Town (January 5 to 9), Centurion (January 13-17) and The Wanderers, Johannesburg (January 24-28).
Meanwhile, the Indian cricket fraternity on Tuesday attended the wedding reception for Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma. Earlier, the newlywed couple had hosted a reception in Delhi which was attended by PM Narendra Modi. The duo had got married in a hush-hush affair in Tuscany, Italy which was attended by close friends and family on December 11.
Squad: Virat Kohli (C), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah