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Virat Kohli’s name missing from fitness report to selectors for India ODI squad vs New Zealand

Mayank

Virat Kohli will be available for selection for NZ ODIs [Source: BCCI/X.com]Virat Kohli will be available for selection for NZ ODIs [Source: BCCI/X.com]

Virat Kohli has been in a great rhythm ahead of the upcoming three-match ODI series against New Zealand, with six consecutive scores of fifty or more, including three centuries in List A cricket, with the most recent fifty coming in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Gujarat in a closely fought win for Delhi.

However, in a surprising turn of events, despite showing no signs of rustiness upon his return to competitive cricket after a 7-month hiatus, the star player's name is reportedly absent from the latest fitness reports at BCCI and selection committee's disposal ahead of the team selection for the series against the Kiwis whilst his selection remains imminent.

Kohli's name missing from fitness reports ahead of IND vs NZ ODIs

According to the report from Dainik Jagran's Abhishek Tripathi, there is a list of 19 players whose fitness reports ahead of the team selection for the forthcoming ODIs are available with BCCI but as of January 2, Kohli's name is absent from the list despite no injury concerns to the player, who is also likely to play Delhi's January 6 fixture against Railways.

The same report also suggests that Kohli will remain available for selection regardless of whether the report is present or not, considering he has recently been active and the match fitness has been evident.

VC Iyer set to return to the field; Hardik to limit his workload in VHT

A good news for the Indian fans comes in the form of Shreyas Iyer's return to the field for the first time since October 25, when he sustained a spleen injury while taking a catch, as he will play the Mumbai vs Himachal Pradesh game on January 6, having completed the 50-over Right to Play simulation on January 2 without complications.

The Mumbai vs HPCA match will play as his second RTP match ahead of the NZ series after all players were asked to play at least two Vijay Hazare Trophy games to prove their match fitness.

On the other hand, star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has not played any fifty-over cricket since his return from the hamstring injury has come back to don the Baroda colours against Vidarbha on January 3 and will also play their Round 6 game against Jammu and Kashmir on January 6.

Considering the preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup, he has been adviced to limit the number of overs in these two games to avoid any unwanted injury scare weeks before the marquee competition at home. As things stand, Hardik is unlikely to feature in the New Zealand ODI series as he will be kept fresh for the T20Is followed by the T20 mega-event.

Following is the list of players who are fit and available for the selections apart from Kohli:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Shivam Dube, Arshdeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Prasidh Krishna.