Playing county cricket will help me improve my game, says Virat Kohli

What’s the story?

Ahead of India's tour of England, captain Virat Kohli is eager to get acclimatised to the conditions and is keen to get a county stint before the series begins.

"Playing county cricket will help me improve my game," the 29-year-old batsman was as quoted by NDTV.

"I think it makes things more challenging and more competitive and there are no guarantees whether you are going to do well even if you go in advance," he further added.

It has to be added here that back in 2014 Kohli endured a wretched tour of England where he made 134 runs in five Tests at 13.40.

The details

Kohli was earlier linked with a move to county side Surrey, but neither the county nor the player has confirmed the move.

Although the Indian team did admirably in the series against South Africa, there was a prevalent feeling that the Kohli-led team would have won the Test series had they allocated more time to practice matches which would have allowed the players to get accustomed to the alien conditions.

The BCCI has thus decided to allow many senior players to go and play County cricket which is a welcome move considering the conditions in England will be quite demanding.

In case you didn’t know…

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma are already in England after not being picked up by any IPL franchise.

While Ishant took a five-wicket haul playing for Sussex against Warwickshire, Pujara's match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

What’s next?

India take on England in a five-match Test series which commences August 1.

Before the Test series, they take part in a four-day warm-up match against Essex.

Author’s take

Although Kohli will miss the one-off Test against Afghanistan, this move to play County Cricket is certainly one in the right direction as there is no doubt that his role in the Indian team, both as a batsman and as the captain, will be critical in England.