[Watch] Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant leave for Kanpur ahead of IND vs BAN 2nd Test
Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant on Tuesday, September 24, left for Kanpur from Delhi for the upcoming second Test against Bangladesh at Green Park. The match is scheduled to begin on Friday, September 27.
For the unversed, Kohli, along with wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant and head coach Gautam Gambhir, had traveled to his hometown Delhi after the opening Test in Chennai ended inside four days.
The 35-year-old might have spent time with his family, including mother Saroj and elder brother Vikas, before leaving for Kanpur. The Delhi batter currently lives in London with his wife Anushka Sharma and two kids - Vamika and Akaay. Meanwhile, Pant also has a residence in Delhi.
In a video doing the rounds on X, Kohli and Pant were seen at Delhi airport. Kohli was seen wearing a white T-shirt, black pants, and matching sneakers. Meanwhile, Pant sported a trendy lower and printed T-shirt.
Watch the clip below:
On the professional front, Virat Kohli had a below-par game with the bat, returning with scores of 6 and 17 in his two innings. The right-handed batter fell prey to a wrong LBW dismissal by on-field umpire Richard Kettleborough in the second innings. He looked plumb but there was an inside edge. Not taking the DRS review further added salt to the wounds. He will look to make amends in the second Test.
The modern-day legend is on the verge of completing 27,000 runs in international cricket.
On the contrary, Rishabh Pant scored a century on his comeback Test, returning with scores of 39 and 109 as India won the first Test by 280 runs to take a 1-0 lead against Bangladesh.
"He is not enjoying batting in India as much" - Sanjay Manjrekar on Virat Kohli
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar recently pointed out about Virat Kohli's shrinking numbers in home Tests. The cricketer-turned-commentator told ESPNCricinfo (via India Today):
"He is not enjoying batting in India as much. Like Tendulkar, I think he feels more at home away from home. We saw that in South Africa, how well he played. He was by far India's best batter. So, that's fine. Better to get runs away from home than at home."
Virat Kohli scored 297 runs in six innings at an average of 49.50, including 186 during the 2022-23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Prior to that, he scored 81 runs in three innings against Sri Lanka in 2022. He had also managed just 36 runs in a solitary Test against New Zealand in 2021. In the same year, he managed 172 runs in six innings against England.