CWC 2023: Virat Kohli reportedly flies home due to ‘personal emergency’ ahead of warm-up match

India’s first warm-up game against England in Guwahati was abandoned without a ball being bowled on September 30. The Indian team were scheduled to fly out to Thiruvananthapuram for their second warm-up encounter, against the Netherlands on October 3.

While the team has reached the coastal city in the state of Kerala, Virat Kohli had to take a detour. According to a Cricbuzz report, Kohli flew back home from Guwahati due to a “personal emergency”.

He is, however, not expected to miss India’s warm-up game against Netherlands and is expected to link up with the squad soon. According to the Cricbuzz report, a source from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said, “Virat will rejoin the team soon.”

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The weather in Thiruvananthapuram hasn’t been ideal either. The first warm-up game here on September 29 between South Africa and Afghanistan was washed out without a ball being bowled, while the second one on September 30 between Australia and the Netherlands was first reduced to a 23-over-a-side contest before getting washed out in the 15th over of the second innings.

Both India and Netherlands would be hoping that the weather gods relent on October 3, allowing their players some much needed game time before the start of the main event.

Kohli has had a decent run in ODIs this year, having scored 612 runs at an average of 55.6 including two fifties and three hundreds. India will be banking on his genius and expertise of the format at the World Cup.

In the previous World Cup, Kohli had scored 443 runs at 55.4 including five fifties, but never crossed the three-figure mark. In fact, from 26 World Cup games, Kohli has scored only two centuries so far and would like to increase that tally and get closer to 50 ODI hundreds (he is currently on 47).