Delhi batsman Virat Kohli will replace the injured Gautam Gambhir in the Indian team for the ongoing cricket tri-series in Sri Lanka.
Delhi batsman Virat Kohli will replace the injured Gautam Gambhir in the Indian team for the ongoing cricket tri-series in Sri Lanka.
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"The All India Selection Committee has decided to send Virat Kohli as the replacement batsman to Sri Lanka for the tri-series," BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement. "Kohli will join the team at the earliest," he added.
Kohli was hurriedly drafted in after Gambhir was ruled out of the event a day before India plays its first match against New Zealand. Gambhir strained his groin muscle and was subsequently advised 10 days' rest which ruled him out of the tri-series, also featuring hosts Sri Lanka. He will return home.
Gambhir's return means India will be without both their regular openers since Virender Sehwag is already out of action and recovering from a shoulder surgery.
Interestingly, conditions here would not be totally alien to the 20-year-old batsman who has played all five of his ODIs in Sri Lanka last year before falling out of favour.
In those five matches, Kohli scored 159 runs at an average of 31.80 and with a 66.52 strike rate. His highest score is 54 that came against Sri Lanka in August 2008.
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