IND vs WI: Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant to miss third T20I

Onecricket

Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant have been rested by the Indian team management from the third and final T20I against the West Indies scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 20 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The Men in Blue have already sealed the series, having taken a 2-0 lead with an eight-run win on Friday, February 18.

India won the first game by six wickets at the same venue. Kohli and Pant are likely to miss the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. They will miss the game in Lucknow on February 24 followed by the ones on February 26 and 27 in Dharamsala.

The duo has been given a break from the hassles of staying in bio-secure bubbles and will join the team for the Sri Lanka Tests, starting March 4 in Mohali. The squads for the Sri Lanka T20Is and Tests are yet to be announced.

"BCCI has given break to Virat Kohli from the bio-bubble and the third T20, it's just a normal break for him because of a tiring schedule from a long time. Rishabh Pant has also been given a break by BCCI ahead of the third T20 and from the T20I series against Sri Lanka," the source told ANI.

"Yes, managing workload has been a priority for us," a source privy to the development was quoted as saying.

Kohli hasn't had the best of times of late. Last year, he relinquished T20I captaincy after India crashed out of the T20 World Cup 2021 in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Later, the 33-year-old was removed as the ODI captain of the team.

Last month, Kohli also stepped down as the Test skipper after India lost 1-2 in South Africa. India started with a win in the opening Test at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. But seven-wicket defeats in Johannesburg and Cape Town led them to lose the series.

Kohli also didn't have the best of times in the ODI series against the West Indies, but he scored a half-century in the second T20I on Friday. Pant, on the other hand, has been scoring runs across formats.

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