Virat Kohli may have to alter his plans to play county cricket in England after the BCCI was keen to have their captain lead India in their one-off Test against Afghanistan in June.
According to reports in India, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) are eager to see key Test players travel to England for county stints ahead of their tour this summer. The series includes five Tests, three ODIs and three T20s, which begin from July 3.
However, the BCCI feels that if Kohli misses the Afghanistan Test which begins from June 14, it would be ‘disrespectful’ for the touring nation.
“If a decision has been taken to allow the India captain to miss an international game and play County cricket at that point of time, it would set a very bad precedent,” an unnamed BCCI official was quoted as saying in Indian reports.
“It would give a very bad message to the visiting Afghanistan team; that maybe the opponents aren’t worthy for us. It would be disrespectful to the Afghanistan team and also, it would be unfair on the broadcaster.
“(Even if) he is playing in England at that time, he can come back for one Test and then fly back. And if he is so keen to play County cricket, has he sought permission to miss his IPL games?”
Kohli had been linked with a stint to Surrey with former England captain showing interest in signing the batsman as one of their overseas players this season.
“I did enquire a while back about Kohli when it appeared to be a possible option for him to play county cricket but was told India were playing Ireland in T20s and an inaugural Test against Afghanistan in June before the England tour,” Stewart said in March.
“If he does now become available we would look at it again to see if it could potentially work around our current overseas arrangements.”
