Virat Kohli has made no official request for break as of now: BCCI official
New Delhi (PTI): India Test captain Virat Kohli has not put in any formal request for a break from the ODI leg of the upcoming South Africa tour, a top BCCI official has asserted.
Kohli will be leading India in a three-Test series starting December 26 in Centurion and the series ends on January 15 in Cape Town with the third and final Test. The three-match ODI series will kick off on January 19.
After vice-captain Rohit Sharma was ruled out due to the recurrence of a left hamstring injury, reports have emerged that Kohli will take a break to spend some time with his young family.
"As of now, Kohli hasn't sent any formal request to skip the ODIs to either BCCI president Sourav Ganguly or secretary Jay Shah. If something is decided at a later date or God forbid, he sustains an injury, then it's a different matter," a senior BCCI official privy to developments told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
"As things stand today, he is playing the three ODIs on January 19, 21, 23," he added.
The official also said that all the players' families are also travelling to South Africa aboard the same charter flight due to the bio-bubble restrictions.
"The skipper is travelling with his family. But yes, if he feels bubble fatigue after the Test series and wants to take a break, he would definitely inform the chairman of selectors and secretary (Shah), who is the convenor of the selection committee," the source added.
One reason for the current speculation could be that once India are back home, they will again be inside an extended bubble for three weeks with Sri Lanka coming in for Tests and T20 Internationals.
There were some reports that Kohli might take a break because of his daughter Vamika's first birthday (January 11). Kohli will be playing his 100th Test match on that day. The ODI series starts on January 19.
Kohli has been a advocate of workload management in bubble life, which he thinks isn't sustainable for long periods of time as it can take a toll on one's mental health.
In the past year, he has been on a paternity break during the 2020-21 Australia series, and during the three T20 Internationals against New Zealand at home.
And now, it remains to be seen if Kohli takes a break in South Africa or more likely skips the T20 series against Sri Lanka at home.
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Congress leader Harish Rawat files FIR against BJP over 'misinformation' campaign against him
Dehradun (PTI) Senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Tuesday filed a police complaint here against the alleged misinformation campaign being carried out against him by BJP on social media.
Rawat, who reached the Nehru Colony police station with his supporters, handed over a written complaint along with a pen drive and other evidence to the police.
Based on this, an FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and relevant sections of law.
After filing the FIR, Rawat alleged that the police took four hours to register his complaint. He added that if it takes so long for a former CM to file an FIR, one can easily imagine the plight of a common man.
"Finally, after four hours, the police registered the FIR with trembling hands. Their hands were trembling because we have accused the BJP president and his associates, with factual evidence, of misusing AI to tarnish our and our party's image and trying to disrupt social harmony by targeting a particular community," Rawat said.
He expressed hope that after the registration of the FIR, the police would bring the culprits to justice.
Rawat also said, "Just imagine, if the police take so much time to register an FIR of a former CM, what will be the condition of a common man in this state?"
Later, he also handed over a copy of the FIR to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Dehradun and the SSP of the Special Task Force. Rawat also said that he would meet the District Magistrate of Dehradun and the State Election Officer with his complaint on Wednesday.
Recently, an AI-generated reel was uploaded on the official social media page of the BJP, which portrayed Rawat as a supporter of appeasement.
In the reel, a Congress leader is heard saying, "I take refuge in Muslims, I take refuge in dargahs (shrines), I take refuge in love jihad." The subsequent images show the construction of a dargah and some people smiling and talking about turning Devbhoomi (the land of gods) into a land of dargahs.
At the end of the reel, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is seen walking with police forces and bulldozers.
Rawat also claimed that another AI-generated video was uploaded from a 'fake' BJP platform, depicting him as a 'traitorous Pakistani agent' engaged in espionage. However, the BJP has denied any connection to this video.
