BCCI grants paternity leave to Virat Kohli, to play only the 1st Test in Adelaide and will miss the last 3

Team India captain Virat Kohli will miss the last 3 Test matches of the four-match series down under as the BCCI have granted him a paternity leave. Kohli and his celebrity wife Anushka Sharma, earlier, announced their pregnancy through a social media post in August.

The post was captioned ‘Arriving in Jan 2021’ and now Kohli has decided to take paternity leave for the birth of his first child. While the Australia tour starts on November 27, the Test series will commence on December 17 in Adelaide. While Kohli will be available for the Adelaide Test, from December 17-21, he will miss the rest of the Test series which ends on January 19.

“At the selection committee meeting held on October 26th, 2020, Mr Virat Kohli had informed the BCCI about his plans to return to India after the first Test in Adelaide. The BCCI has granted



paternity leave to the Indian captain. He will return after the first Test against Australia in Adelaide,” a statement released by the BCCI stated.

Besides Kohli’s update, the BCCI has also made certain changes ahead of the much-awaited Australia tour. The biggest of which is Rohit Sharma’s incorporation into the Test squad. Meanwhile, Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha’s injuries are still being closely monitored and a call is yet to be taken.

Here's the revised Test squad:

Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj.