'Anybody who has an interest in cricket wanted to see Virat Kohli play County'

Virat Kohli

Pat Pocock, the former English off-spin bowler, who was president of Surrey County Cricket Club from 2015 to 2016, reckons England would be disappointed to miss out on an opportunity to watch Virat Kohli play for the London-based county club before the India v England Test series.

Yesterday, the BCCI ruled out Virat Kohli's brief Surrey stint due to a neck injury he suffered during the Bangalore v Hyderabad T20 2018 game on May 17. "Not only cricket lovers in London, but anybody, who has an interest in cricket all over the country, was looking forward to see Kohli play here," Pocock, 71, told mid-day from London yesterday.

"Kohli, who was scheduled to play for Surrey CCC in the month of June, has been ruled out from participating. This decision was taken following assessments by the BCCI Medical team, subsequent scans, and a specialist visit. The BCCI Medical Team is confident that Kohli will regain full fitness ahead of India's upcoming tours to Ireland and England," the BCCI's acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary said in a media release.

Pat Pocock

Pocock, whose 17-year Test career included two Test tours to India in 1972-73 and 1984-85, remarked: "It's unfortunate that we are not going to have him on the field, but we are also not going to have him off the field with the younger players. I just hope it's a minor injury and it doesn't hold him up for long."

Kohli decided to play county cricket to tune up in the best possible fashion for the five-Test series against England. He had a forgettable series in 2014 when he could manage only 134 in 10 trips to the crease, his best effort being 39 at Southampton.

Pocock, who has bowled to some great ones like Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohammed Azharuddin, was unable to elaborate on Kohli's greatness because he has not watched him for an extended period of time in Test cricket. "I've watched him more in the shorter form of the game and not so much in Test cricket. Until I see him play a lot more in Tests matches, it will be difficult to compare him with the other great Indian names. He must be great. You cannot have the statistics that he has in all forms of the game without being a fine player," said Pollock.

The India captain's England assignment is a difficult one and even the best of players have found English pitches hard to succeed on. Pollock explained: "The ball moves a little bit more in England. You must have an awful lot of skills to score a hundred but you also need luck as well. You and I've never seen anybody score a ton without playing and missing four to five times. Just one of those times, instead of missing it, you nick it and you're out, so that's where the luck comes into it," said Pocock.

Also Read: Virat Kohli ruled out of County cricket due to injury, fitness test on June 15

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