Bhubaneswar, Sep 4: Grabbing headlines is not new to Team India cricketer Virat Kohli. And yet again, the modern day cricket great has become the centre of debate following his pre-season fitness test ahead of the forthcoming India-Australia ODI series.

Keeping the injuries of Indian players in mind, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had directed the players to appear for a mandatory fitness test, which was conducted at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.

Everything was fine until the reports came that BCCI conducted Kohli’s fitness test in London. Notably, the former India skipper is residing in London with his family.

According to the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, Indian players, including the ODI captain Rohit Sharma, Test captain Shubman Gill, and T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, completed their tests in Bengaluru, making Kohli an exception. Questions are now being raised on BCCI for the privilege that is being given to Kohli.

As per the reports, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja are among the top players who are going to appear for the tests this month.

Reports claim that Kohli was the only player whose tests were conducted at a different venue, and no other player has sought this kind of exemption. Though there have been no direct comments, but one of the senior BCCI officials did confirm the prior approval taken by Kohli for performing the tests in London.

Meanwhile, fans seem to be divided with their opinions on various social media platforms.

“Virat Kohli does fitness tests in London, spends the off-season in London, and lives more there than in India. At this point, he looks more like an English cricketer with an Indian jersey,” one fan wrote on social media.

There are fans who pointed out BCCI’s decision to allow Kohli for the fitness test in London, countering Kohli’s critics. They stated that fans should not criticise Kohli, as travelling 20 hours for a one-hour fitness test is not convenient.

While Kohli's London-based test might be considered as a preferential treatment towards the player, it poses a broader question for BCCI: should geographical flexibility be allowed in this kind of fitness test, or must it be limited to a few exceptional cases? Only BCCI can answer these questions.

Written by: Lipisita Padhi

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