I'm 100% fit and looking forward to the England tour: Virat Kohli.
NEW DELHI: Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli has squashed all rumours and doubts surrounding his fitness. Addressing the media on the eve of the team's departure for the tour of England, Kohli announced that he has completely recovered from the injury sustained during the IPL, and that the break has provided him ample time to prepare for the tough tour that lies ahead.
"I'm 100 percent ready to go. The neck is fine now. I've had six to seven sessions in Mumbai and I'm absolutely ready to go. I went through the fitness test as well and the body is feeling fine. I'm actually very excited to get back onto the field, which is a very rare feeling when you play so much of cricket. But in hindsight, these breaks really help. It freshens you up and gets you pumped to get back out there again," Kohli said.
The Indian captain was set for his maiden county stint for Surrey before a neck injury, but his much-hyped participation was ruled out in May. After undergoing a three-week rehabilitation, Kohli underwent the YoYo Test - basic fitness parameter set by the team management before any tour - and successfully cleared it. Kohli didn't look in any discomfort while taking the advanced beep test as he matched MS Dhoni step for step along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kedar Jadhav and Suresh Raina.
Kohli did not mince words and pointed out that although he would have loved to experience the challenging English conditions, he is glad to have given his body time to recover and head into the two-month long tour fresh.
"In hindsight when I look at it, I think what has happened was in my best interest. Yes, I wanted to go and experience the conditions in England; that's a place we haven't played to our potential. It's been four years since we last went there and one tends to forget how the scenario is like there. I wanted to witness the difficult phase of those conditions, like which Pujara and Ishant played in," Kohli added.
"But if I was 90 percent with my body and used to the conditions as compared to being 110 now and going in fresh, I would much rather be in this position. More than anything, you need to be fresh and attain 100 percent fitness before a long tour such as this."
India embarks on a gruelling two-month long tour of England, where they play five Tests, three ODIs and three T20 Internationals. For the first time since the 2002 tour, the Indian team will be playing white-ball cricket before Test matches in England, beginning with a couple of T20Is against Ireland on Wednesday.
This article is from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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