The social media was abuzz because the news about Virat Kohli being ruled out of Asia Cup 2022 came from respected Sri Lankan commentator Roshan Abeysinghe.
India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2022: Team India will open their campaign in the Asia Cup 2022 with an explosive clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday (August 28). But days ahead of the clash, Indian cricket fans got a massive shock on Thursday (August 25) when news emerged on social media that former India captain Virat Kohli might be ruled out of the tournament due to ‘wrist injury’.
The social media was abuzz because the news came from respected Sri Lankan commentator Roshan Abeysinghe, who is in UAE to cover the Asia Cup 2022, which begins on Saturday (August 27). Abeysinghe wrote in now deleted tweet, “Virat Kohli has been ruled out of the Asia Cup squad due to Wrist Injury. Shubman Gill replaces him in the Team India squad.”
Check tweet about Virat Kohli’s injury here…
Thankfully, the Indian fans can now breathe a sigh of relief as the news proved to be untrue. Abeysinghe quickly deleted the tweet and apologized to the fans, saying, “Sorry Virat’s News is fake. The tweet has been deleted”.
Kohli, in fact, took part in Team India’s first training session at the ICC Academy in Dubai. The former captain appeared in tremendous form in the nets, smashing spinner Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin nonchalantly.
Ahead of Asia Cup starting from August 27 in the UAE, Kohli admitted that there was a pattern to his lean scores on the tour of England, which gave him something to work on and had to overcome on his time off from the game. Kohli returns to the Indian team for the Asia Cup in T20I format, after a break of more than a month after having last played during the tour of England in July, where he made scores of 16 and 17 in two ODIs as well as 1 and 11 in two T20Is apart from 11 and 20 in rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston.
If Kohli features in India’s playing XI for the Asia Cup 2022 opener against Pakistan on August 28 in Dubai, dubbed as the ‘greatest rivalry’ in cricketing world, it will also mark his 100th T20I appearance. “What happened in England was a pattern, so something that I could work on and something that I had to kind of overcome. Right now, as you rightly mentioned, there is nothing that you can point out saying that the problem is happening here. So, that for me, is actually an easier thing to process because I know that I’m batting well and at times, when I start feeling that rhythm back, then I know that I`m batting well.
“So, that for me is not an issue, which wasn’t the case in England; I didn’t feel like I was batting well at all. So, I had to work hard on one thing that could be exposed again and again which I overcame; right now this is not the case,” said Kohli on ‘Game Plan’ show on Star Sports.
