Virat Kohli set to lead India against Ireland after successful yo-yo test

29-year old Virat Kohli was one of India’s leading performers with the bat last year and guided the team to emphatic series wins against England, Australia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. While most of those matches were on home turf, Kohli was a standout performer in India’s historic ODI series win in South Africa earlier this year where he scored 558 runs from six ODIs. 

However, the Indian batsman sustained a neck injury towards the end of the this year’s IPL tournament and was ruled out for the Afghanistan Test match as well as a stint with English county side - Surrey. 

The Delhi-born player took the BCCI mandated yo-yo test yesterday along with the likes of MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and passed with flying colours. He was cleared for the UK tour and will lead India in the two T20Is against Ireland on June 27 and 29.

The Indian captain will look to put a disappointing season with Royal Challengers Bangalore behind him and focus on the upcoming UK tour which will see India go up against Ireland in two T20Is before they face England in three T20Is, three ODIs, and five Test matches.

"Almost all the players including skipper Virat Kohli have comfortably cleared the qualifying mark for the YoYo test. Ambati Rayudu is the only player in the UK-bound squad, who has failed to clear the fitness test. His score is well below the permissible 16.1 set for the India and India A team. Rayudu will be dropped from the squad," a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

CSK batsman - Rayudu had made a comeback in the ODI squad after more than one and half years away from the national team and largely on the back of his IPL performance. It is learnt that Rayudu, who had a major role in Chennai Super Kings' victorious IPL campaign, performed well below-par in the range of 14, which put doubts to his trip to the UK..