Brad Hodge questions the seriousness of Kohli's injury

03/27/2017

Brad Hodge has questioned the extent of Virat Kohli's injury stating that it would be "pretty dirty" if Kohli showed up fully fit for the IPL having withdrawn from the Indian Test squad. He went on to add that as a rival coach he would want Kohli to be absent when his team played RCB in the IPL.

Kohli suffered a shoulder injury in the third Test of the ongoing series against Australia while trying to save a boundary and reports had suggested that he required a 10-day rest to recover completely. On the eve of the final match, Kohli had said that he would only play if he was declared 100% fit, but as luck would have it, he was not given the go-ahead by the Indian physio.

"You'd hope as a sportsman that he's seriously injured," Hodge told Fox Sports in an interview.

"Because if you miss one game of Test match cricket and you're fronting up the next week for RCB [Royal Challengers Bangalore] versus whoever ... you'd be pretty dirty if he didn't front up to a Test match and try and win a valuable series against Australia."

With the series tied at one game a piece, India needed to win the match to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. While saying that he had seen players "limp into" the IPL to perform, Hodge candidly added that he was hopeful that Kohli would miss RCB's clash against Gujarat Lions.

"You would think that your captain would get out there and get amongst the fight and get in there."

"He gets paid a helluva lot of money - he gets paid a helluva lot of money anyway, so it doesn't matter - but there are certain players who will limp in to IPL time, to make sure they get there and perform well, because it is an important tournament for everyone around the world.

"I'm hopeful, as a Gujarat Lions coach, that when we play RCB in a couple of weeks that he's not playing."