Team India skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed that Virat Kohli will be sitting out of the first ODI in Nagpur due to a knee injury. Rohit confirmed the news during the toss on Thursday, February 6. The captain further stated that Kohli suffered the problem last night.
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— BCCI (@BCCI) February 6, 2025
Virat Kohli was unavailable for selection for the 1st ODI due to a sore right knee.
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In Kohli's absence, India handed a debut to Yashasvi Jaiswal with Shreyas Iyer slotted to bat at No. 3 while vice-captain Shubman Gill was slotted to bat at No. 4. India also handed an ODI debut to fast bowler Harshit Rana, who was picked in the XI along with Mohammed Shami.
Virat Kohli was closing in on 14,000 runs in ODI cricket, but the star batter has to wait longer to get to the milestone. The Men in Blue haven’t played much one-day cricket since the 2023 ODI World Cup final. The last time Rohit SHarma's team played ODI cricket was three-match series in Sri Lanka.
In that series Kohli managed to score just 58 runs in three innings after a prolific World Cup at home, where he was the leading run-scorer of the tournament, with 765 runs in 11 innings.