Virat Kohli's absence from England Test series ends his 12-year-long streak

The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) finally ended all the uncertainty over Virat Kohli’s availability for the remaining three Tests against England as they announced the squad for the remaining matches on Saturday, February 10. As speculated, Kohli remained absent from the squad due to personal reasons and the BCCI stated that they respect his decision.

As a result, it will be the first time ever that the former India captain will be missing an entire Test series in his over 12-year-long career in the longest format. Notably, Kohli made his Test debut against West Indies in Kingston in June 2011.

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The 35-year-old scored his first hundred against Australia in Adelaide in January 2012 and since then has been counted among the greatest batters to grace the format in the modern era. In the 113 matches played so far in his career, Kohli has scored 8848 runs at an average of 49.15 with 29 hundreds and 30 fifties to his name.

Notably, Kohli has time and again advocated for saving Test cricket and shown commitment to playing the longest format. Under his leadership, India had a golden run in cricket’s oldest format as he led them to 40 wins from 68 matches with a win percentage of 58.82%.

Kohli missed three Tests against Australia in 2020-21

He was also the first Indian captain to win a Test series in Australia during the 2018-19 tour. The only two occasions the Delhi-born batter has missed his favourite format have been due to personal reasons. Kohli earlier missed the last three Tests of the series against Australia in 2020-21 as he had return back home for the birth of his daughter Vamika.

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And now the star cricketer has once again decided to miss a series due to family emergency. According to reports, the 35-year-old is out of India and the details of his emergency are still unknown. Meanwhile, the five-match Test series between India and England is tied 1-1 and the third game will begin from February 15 at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot.