By Karan Agrawal 
India’s batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak, confirmed former Indian captain Virat Kohli’s availability for the second ODI against England in Cuttack on Sunday. Virat missed the first match in Nagpur on February 6 due to a swollen knee. As a result, Shreyas Iyer, who was supposed to be left out of the playing XI to include Yashasvi Jaiswal, found a place and grabbed it with both hands by scoring an attacking half-century when India had lost two quick wickets in a middling chase of 249 runs.
The Revelation
Talking to the broadcaster after the match Shreyas Iyer said that he wasn’t supposed to play the match and only got the chance as Virat Kohli was nursing a swollen Knee. In the words of Iyer, “I wasn’t supposed to play the first game. As we all know, Virat unfortunately got injured and then I got the opportunity. But I had kept myself prepared. I knew that, you know, at any point in time, I could get a chance to play. And the same thing happened to me last year during the Asia Cup. I got injured, and someone else came, and he scored a century,” he told Star Sports.
The Return
Virat Kohli’s return will further boost the Indian batting lineup which already put up a solid display of batting in the first ODI against England with youngsters like Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and Axar Patel taking the onus to guide the team home after a shaky start with competitive ease. Confirming Virat Kohli’s availability for the second ODI in Cuttack India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said “Virat Kohli is fit to play the second ODI against England in Cuttack on Sunday,” Kotak said on the eve of the match.
The Form
The form of the Indian batters has been a cause of concern in the last few series with captain and opening batter Rohit Sharm finding it hard to score runs and Yashasvi Jaiswal not making the most of his ODI debut. Addressing the issue Sitanshu Kotak said “Somewhere down the line, you are going to lose some wickets, whether it’s openers or middle-order but all in all, as a batting unit or as a team, there were a lot of positives. The way we batted, the way we showed our intent. After two wickets, it was literally 9-10 runs an over but we didn’t let them come into the game.”