The Australian Hodge has raised many eyebrows after suggesting the Indian captain snubbed the series decider in order to make it for the IPL.
Former Australian batsman and current head coach of Gujarat Lions, Brad Hodge felt that Indian captain Virat Kohli might have kept himself out of the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in order to be back in action for the upcoming IPL season.
Ajinkya Rahane took over the leadership mantle from Kohli after the latter was ruled out of the decider having suffered a shoulder injury in the third Test at Ranchi. Kohli will try to recover in time for the first match of his team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on April 5 but according to Hodge, it would be 'dirty' for Kohli to sit out of the crucial Test match and then make an IPL comeback.
"You'd hope as a sportsman that he's seriously injured," Hodge told Fox Sports News’ Gameday Live. "Because if you miss one game of Test match cricket and you're fronting up the next week for RCB versus whoever ... you'd be pretty dirty if he didn't front up to a Test match and try and win a valuable series against Australia."
Ahead of the final test in Dharmasala, Kohli expressed he would only field himself if manages to be 100 percent fit. But Hodge suggested if it was nothing serious, the under-performing Indian captain should have made himself available for the series decider match at Dharamsala. "You would think that your captain would get out there and get amongst the fight and get in there."
Questioned whether Kohli was saving himself for the cash-rich league, Hodge said, “It’s happened before. Not just Virat, but there are many players that have come up to IPL time and … look, we know it’s a cash-rich tournament, there’s some money up for grabs.
“He gets paid a helluva lot of money – he gets paid a helluva lot of money anyway, so it doesn’t matter – but there are certain players who will limp in to IPL time, to make sure they get there and perform well, because it is an important tournament for everyone around the world.”
The head coach of the Gujarat Lions also hoped that Kohli doesn't recover fully before his team meets RCB on April 19th. “You’d hope as a sportsman that he’s seriously injured. I’m hopeful, as a Gujarat Lions coach, that when we play RCB in a couple of weeks that he’s not playing,” he stated.
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