"He needs three months away from cricket" - Michael Vaughan urges struggling Virat Kohli to take a sabbatical
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has urged out-of-form Indian batter Virat Kohli to take a three-month sabbatical from cricket and spend some quality time with his family. Vaughan reckons that some time away from the game could work in the cricketer’s favor.
Kohli’s poor run with the willow continued in the Birmingham Test against England. He registered scores of 11 and 20 as the hosts defeated India by seven wickets to square the five-match series 2-2.
The former India captain has been enduring a wretched run for a while now. He registered three golden ducks while representing the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) during IPL 2022. The 33-year-old is still searching for his first international hundred since November 2019.
Kohli will be seen in action during the white-ball series against England, which begins in Southampton on Thursday. Previewing the first T20I (Kohli is not part of the squad for the first T20I), Vaughan told Cricbuzz:
"I look at Virat in particular. I knew he had a little bit of a rest at the end of the IPL. But he just looks to me like he needs a sabbatical. He looks like he needs three months away from cricket. Go and sit on a beach.
"Go and do what you can with your family because a career of 20 years, which he probably will end up getting because he's such a good player. To have a three months break, is it going to affect him? No. Will it help him? Yes."
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Kohli was rested for the five-match T20I series at home against South Africa. He has also been given a break for the forthcoming ODI series in West Indies later in the month.
"It's ridiculous" - Vaughan on schedule for ongoing India vs England series
India and England recently featured in the Birmingham Test from July 1 to July 5. With just a day’s break in between, the teams will now play three T2I0s and three ODIs between July 7 and July 17.
Sharing his thoughts on the extremely tight schedule, Vaughan commented:
"I just look at the schedule for India and England. It's ridiculous. We'll see more and more of this over the next few years. It's just impossible that all format players will be able to play all three formats. The management of all these teams are going to have to be very clever in terms of giving them a breather."
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Following the England series, India are slated to play three ODIs and five T20Is in the West Indies from July 22 to August 7.
Shikhar Dhawan has been named captain for the one-dayers with Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant also being rested along with Kohli.