Reports | Virat Kohli to skip one Test and limited overs series against Sri Lanka

After surpassing Ricky Ponting's record of 30 ODI centuries, yesterday, Kohli appeared to be struggling in the latter part of his innings. He even came out later for the second innings as Rohit Sharma took the temporary reins of the team. Kohli has only missed one match for India in 2017, due to a shoulder injury, and has continued to perform with the same amount of rigour. However, according to an Indian Express report, Kohli's long stretch of consecutive games might just come to an end as he as reportedly asked for a leave of absence from the upcoming Sri Lanka tour in the month of December.

India will be playing three Tests, three ODIs and three T20s against Sri Lanka from November 16 to December 24.

"Kohli has informed the BCCI that there are some personal reasons and that is why he won’t be available in the month of December. Kohli has been playing non-stop cricket for quite sometimes now and he certainly would like to be fresh for South Africa tour in January,” a source in the board informed Indian Express.

Last time when Kohli missed a Test match was the last match of the Border-Gavaskar series when he injured his shoulder in the third game in Ranchi. Ajinkya Rahane had led the team in the game and if Kohli's application is accepted, he might step in again.

Moreover, when Kohli was asked how he will be dealing with the hectic schedule, before the first game of the New Zealand series, he had responded by saying, "Yes, we have spoken about the schedule, it’s become quite hectic. That’s something we will definitely have to sit and discuss in future. Because, if you look at New Zealand, they haven’t played any cricket after Champions Trophy. There has been such a good lay off. It can be the difference in doing well in a big tournament and performing poorly.”