Virat Kohli wants Ajinkya Rahane to open the innings in the Champions Trophy

Board of Control for Cricket in India and the International Cricket Council have been tussling over a revenue issue for the past month. BCCI’s revenue of USD 570 million was brought down to USD 293million because of the new rules and regulations, however, BCCI were not happy with the decision and have been trying different things to overrule the decision.

One of the things was not announcing the squad for the upcoming ICC event as they let the deadline for announcing the squad pass. This act of BCCI had put a question mark on India’s participation in the mega event.

According to Mumbai Mirror, Anil Kumble, the coach of the Indian team has informed BCCI that they should let India defend their title and not let the financial side affect the game. In fact, as per ESPNCricinfo, some of the former Indian stars including the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Zaheer Khan, Gundappa Viswanath, Sandeep Patil, Sanjay Manjrekar, Aakash Chopra, Ajit Agarkar, Venkatesh Prasad, Saba Karim, Murali Kartik, and Deep Dasgupta, want India to take part in the showpiece event.

As per reports from India Today, Virat Kohli, who was a bit worried because of the ongoing issues between the BCCI and ICC was given the confirmation by the Committee of Administrators that India will participate in the tournament.

A source close to the board claimed that the Indian skipper was feeling down because of the ongoing affairs. “Virat Kohli was feeling anxious and down, we have allayed his fears and assured him that India will play the Champions Trophy,” sources told India Today.

According to a report from ABP, Virat Kohli also talked about the replacement for the injured KL Rahul to the board. The Indian skipper wants Ajinkya Rahane to replace KL Rahul. Even though Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan are in top form, the Indian skipper has his faith in the Mumbai batter.

Gambhir has scored over 411 runs in the IPL up till now and Shikhar is not far away either and Ajinkya has just managed 248 runs in his 12 games.