{"id":365399,"date":"2024-02-05T05:02:08","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T06:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=365399"},"modified":"2024-02-05T07:03:07","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T07:03:07","slug":"cricket-legends-timely-update-on-kohlis-mystery-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=365399","title":{"rendered":"Cricket legend's timely update on Kohli's mystery absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffB de Villiers<\/a> has moved to clear up some of the speculation regarding close friend Virat Kohli<\/a>, with the Indian superstar absent for his side's Test series against England.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old opted to step away from international duties prior to the first Test and remains on the sidelines for the second encounter, with a timeframe for his potential return to the lineup undecided at this stage.<\/p>\n

Kohli cited 'personal reasons' for his decision to miss the fixtures against England, who caused a major upset in the series opener with a 28-run victory in Hyderabad.<\/p>\n

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In a recent Q\ufeff&A episode on his YouTube channel, de Villiers revealed a recent exchange between the pair and gave a timely update on Kohli's wellbeing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"All I know is, he is fine," the South African legend said. <\/p>\n

"He is spending a bit of time with his family, that is the reason he is missing the first two Test matches. I am not going to confirm anything else.<\/p>\n

"I wrote to him 'Been wanting to check in with you for a while now. How are you?'. He said 'Just need to be with my family right now. I am doing well'.<\/p>\n

"His second child is on the way. Yes, it's family time and things are important to him.<\/p>\n

"If you are not true and genuine to yourself, you lose track of what you are here for \u2014 what are we doing on Earth, what are we here for.<\/p>\n

"I think most people's priority is family. You can't judge Virat for that. We miss him … but he has made absolutely the right decision."<\/p>\n

Kohli played in the recent Test series against the Proteas, as well as starring in last year's World Cup campaign for India.<\/p>\n

It's not the first time Kohli has missed part of a major Test series in his career, with the right-hander flying home mid-way through India's tour of Australia in 2021 to be with his wife for the birth of their first child.<\/p>\n

With close to 9000 runs and 29 centuries\ufeff to his name in the red-ball format, Kohli remains a crucial member of the Indian squad and if he is back on deck for the final three games against England, it could be the difference-maker required for the hosts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\ufeffB de Villiers has moved to clear up some of the speculation regarding close friend Virat Kohli, with the Indian superstar absent for his side's […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":365401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=365399"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":365402,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365399\/revisions\/365402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/365401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=365399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=365399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=365399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}