No Surrey tryst for Virat Kohli

Mumbai: Team India captain Virat Kohli's participation in the English county championship was on Thursday ruled out due to a neck injury, throwing his meticulously planned build-up for the tour of England into disarray.

Kohli will require three weeks of rehabilitation to recover from the injury, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed.

The 29 year old will undergo a fitness test on June 15, which will confirm his availability for the initial phase of the limited-overs tour starting with the two T20 Internationals against Ireland in the last week of June. 

India begins the series against England with T20Is early July.

Kohli suffered a neck injury while fielding during the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 17,' BCCI acting-Secretary Amitabh Choudhary said in a press release.

He was scheduled to play for Surrey CCC in June but now has been ruled out from participating. 

This decision was taken following assessments by the BCCI medical team, subsequent scans, and a specialist visit,' the release stated.

The skipper will now undergo a period of rehabilitation under the supervision of the BCCI medical team.

He will begin training and subsequently undergo a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru on June 15.

Kohli had decided to miss the one-off Test against Afghanistan, starting June 14 in Bengaluru, to appear in county matches.

He visited a hospital in Mumbai for a check-up, on Wednesday, and it was reported that he was suffering from a slip disc injury. However, a top BCCI official, who is privy to Kohli's county engagements, clarified that it was a case of 'neck sprain' and not a 'slip disc injury' as reported.

"Yes, Virat has had fatigue issues and this is a case of workload management rather than injury management. But it isn't a case of slip disc," the senior official said.

Asked why the skipper visit a spinal surgeon in Mumbai, the BCCI official said: "Virat had suffered a neck sprain during an IPL match in Jaipur (RCB's final game). The pain had subsided, but he went for a precautionary check-up."

There is no denying that Kohli has had tremendous workload during the past year starting June 2017. The one question that begs to be answered is why did Kohli not rest himself from a few matches during the IPL?