Brendon McCullum on Virat Kohli: ‘England look forward to the challenge of having one of the greatest players back’

England head coach Brendon McCullum has conceded that his team are looking forward to the challenge that the return of Virat Kohli brings to his side in the ongoing five-match Test series in India, furthermore lavishing praise to the former Indian captain.

“Virat is one of the greatest players of the game has seen. No doubt it improves this squad. As we have said throughout, the depth in Indian cricket, the talent in India is immense. So we respect every opposition player that we come up against,” McCullum told TalkSport.

“If Virat is coming back… we hope everything is well with his family. We will look forward to that challenge too. He is a great competitor. I know him very well and I enjoyed playing against him, I enjoyed our team playing against him. And if you have success against the best, I am sure you have earned it,” he added.

Kohli had decided to sit out the first two Tests of the series owing to ‘personal reasons’ but following India’s win in Visakhapatnam, head coach Rahul Dravid didn’t have a confirmation on whether the talismanic batter will be available for selection in Rajkot.

Recently on his YouTube video, AB de Villiers – Kohli’s longtime RCB teammate in IPL – had shared that the reason behind Kohli not featuring in the first two Tests was because he was expecting the birth of his second child.

“So I wrote to him ‘Been wanting to check in with you (sic) for a while now biscuits. How are you?’. He said ‘Just need to be with my family right now. I am doing well.’.

“Yes, his second child is on the way. Yes, it’s family time and things are important to him. If you are not true and genuine to yourself, you lose track of what you are here for. I think most people’s priority is family. You can’t judge Virat for that. Yes, we miss him. But he has made absolutely the right decision,” de Villiers added.

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Kohli was captain of the Indian Test team the last time England came to these shores for a Test series, and had led the hosts to a 3-1 win in 2021.

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