Could Virat Kohli, who retired from Test cricket recently, play in whites for an English county team? Middlesex certainly hope so, according to a report in The Guardian. The report points out how while Kohli announced his retirement from Tests, he didn’t mention anything about retiring from first-class cricket. Alan Coleman, director of cricket at Middlesex, is quoted as saying: “Virat Kohli is the most iconic player of his generation, so of course we are interested in having that conversation.” It notes that Kohli could play either “county championship or one-day cup”.
Middlesex have used the lure of Lord’s cricket ground, their home arena, to attract big-name players in the past. South Africa’s turned up for the T20 Blast in 2019, and they have signed up New Zealand’s for the second half of this season to play for the team London Spirit.
The Guardian reports that both those deals came with collaboration with MCC and has a line about how they handle the payments. “Officials there (MCC) have indicated they would be happy to similarly split the cost of any deal for Kohli”. Their hope seems to be that Kohli will love to play at Lord’s again, popularly called as the ‘home of cricket’ and will take the plunge.
If Kohli does indeed play red-ball cricket in England, there is a possibility he might play against Lancashire’s Jimmy Anderson at the end of the season.
When he retired, former selector Sarandeep Singh was quoted by JioStar on how Kohli had told him his wish to play the England series. ““This morning when I heard this news that has announced his retirement. This was a big surprise for me,” explained Singh. “And as far as we were talking about the Ranji Trophy, the way he was playing the matches, 4-5 days before that, we started talking to him about the matches he wants to play. He showed his involvement. The way he started his preparation for the red ball, he was talking about how the Australia tour would have been, but he was preparing for the England tour, how we would win the Test match series. But suddenly, now we see that the person who was ready to go to England will not be going to England. That announcement that has been made today, I think everyone is shocked,” Singh had said.
Former Australian captain too had spoken on the issue on JioStar ahead of the game between and . “I think it caught everybody by surprise. I think we all thought that England was one huge push for him to try and make that a really memorable series, particularly after the disappointment of Australia at home.”
