With Royal Challengers Bangalore’s IPL season done, Virat Kohli’s attention will turn to England where he plays for County cricket club Surrey in the month of June. Kohli will play in the Royal London One Day Cup and three First Class matches with Surrey before joining the Indian team on their tour of Ireland prior to the start of the England tour. While at Surrey, Kohli will be playing under the captaincy of Rory Burns.
According to Surrey’s website, Burns replaced former England Test player Gareth Batty as captain of the county side before the start of the current English domestic season. Burns has scored more than 1000 runs in each of the past four seasons that he has played in the County circuit and is considered one of the most consistent performers in the side, so much so that commentators, contemporaries and Burns himself are all somewhat bemused as to how he has not got an England call-up yet.
In an interview with the London Evening Standard, Burns admitted that he is excited to captain Virat Kohli, something no one else can do these days. “I’m hoping to get him down to the beach for fish and chips…” he is quoted as saying. Apart from Kohli, Burns will also be captaining the likes of Mitchell Marsh, former South African pacer Morne Morkel, Aaron Finch and Jason Roy through the season.
Kohli will be the sixth Indian player to play for Surrey in the County championship after Zaheer Khan (2004), Harbhajan Singh (2005 and 2007), Anil Kumble (2006), Pragyan Ojha (2011) and Murali Karthik (2012).