Team India captain Virat Kohli will be in Australia for the entire ODI and T20I series against the Aussies but will only play the first Test in Adelaide before flying back home.
With his actress wife Anushka Sharma set to give birth to their first child in January 2021, Kohli has taken a paternity leave from his cricketing duties. And many opinions have been shared by current as well as former cricketers regarding the same.
The likes of VVS Laxman, Sunil Gavaskar, Harbhajan Singh, Ricky Ponting, John Buchannan and Tim Paine among others have expressed their views on how Kohli’s early departure will leave plenty to ponder upon for Team India. The result of the four-match Test series can also change India’s ranking in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship.
Now, former India all-rounder and World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev has opened up on Kohli’s paternity leave. “Don’t think we could afford to go and come back. That’s for sure. Sunil Gavaskar didn’t see his son for many months. It was a different thing. Look, things change. If I talk about Kohli, when his father died, he came back playing cricket the next day. Today he is taking a leave for his baby. It’s fine, you can afford it,” Kapil said while speaking to sports-writer and journalist Ayaz Memon.
“You can buy a plane and go back and come back again in three days. I feel happy and proud that today sportsmen have reached a level where they can do this. I’m happy for Virat. He’s coming back to see his family. I understand you have passion but the biggest passion is that he’s having a baby,” added Kapil.
The Australia vs India Test series will begin on December 17 with a Day-Night Test, but Team India would resume international cricketing action from November 27 with an ODI series.
With inputs from HT
