Indian cricket coach Ravi Shastri has jumped to the defense of captain Virat Kohli after he was ruled out of his short county cricket stint with Surrey in London ahead of India’s tour of England. Shastri was quoted by the Mumbai Mirror wherein he said that Kohli is not a machine and he needs rest.

Indian cricket coach Ravi Shastri has jumped to the defense of captain Virat Kohli after he was ruled out of his short county cricket stint with Surrey in London ahead of India’s tour of England. Shastri was quoted by the Mumbai Mirror wherein he said that Kohli is not a machine and he needs rest.

Once the news was out and confirmed that Kohli would not be going ahead with county stint with Surrey, there was great drama on Thursday about the type of injury with the debate being between a slipped disc and a neck sprain.

“He had to skip the county stint because he is not a top dog,” India coach Ravi Shastri was quoted as saying in the Mumbai Mirror.

“He is not a machine but a human being. It is not a case of putting rocket fuel up his backside and getting him on the park. Even a top dog can’t be given rocket fuel up his backside,” the coach added. The top dog comment is in reference to Moeen Ali calling his RCB skipper a potential star at Surrey.

One of the best batsmen in modern day cricket, Kohli injured his neck in the Royal Challengers Bangalore game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 17th according to a BCCI statement. Kohli did play the RCB’s final game of the season, against Rajasthan Royals.

The intense work pressure that Kohli puts himself through is no secret and in the last 12 months, he has played 9 Tests and close to 30 ODIs with the national team and another 9 T20 games. The IPL saw him play 14 more games too.

Kohli’s stint at Surrey in South London was being eagerly awaited and this sudden change of plan means there is likely to be some loss of revenue for the club. Surrey expressed their disappointment on the matter.

“It’s hugely disappointing that Virat won’t be joining Surrey for the month of June but we understand injuries happen and we have to respect the decision of the BCCI medical team to pull him from his stint with us,” Surrey Director of Cricket, Alec Stewart, said.

Kohli was due to play for Surrey in six games in June, including three games in the County Championship.