Virat Kohli gives fitness test in London; BCCI slammed for preferential treatment- Report

A new controversy has been triggered as Virat Kohli, senior India cricketer, reportedly gave his pre-season fitness tests in London, where he resides with his family, wife Anushka Sharma, and kids Vamika and Akaay.

A report claims that while the majority of the team's players flew to Bengaluru for their fitness tests, Kohli requested special permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to have his test conducted in the United Kingdom.

Even though Kohli passed the test, there will undoubtedly be controversy around the special exemption for the required fitness tests to be conducted in London.

According to reports, players like Mohammed Siraj, Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill all passed their fitness tests in Bengaluru. According to a Dainik Jagran story, Kohli, on the other hand, also did so, but in London under authorized supervision.

The Hindi daily further claimed that the players who have given their fitness tests (fully or partially) are Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Jitesh Sharma, Prasidh Krishna, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhinav Manohar, Rinku Singh, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Mukesh Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Sarfaraz Khan, Tilak Varma, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

For the Asia Cup 2025 campaign, members of India's Twenty20 International team will shortly board a plane to the United Arab Emirates. Since he has retired from the shortest version of the game, Kohli is not included in India's roster for the Asia Cup, which will be played in the T20 format this year.

BCCI under fire for giving exemption to Virat Kohli

The publication claims that while a senior BCCI official admitted that Kohli "would have taken prior approval" to conduct the test overseas, he made no mention of the deviation from standard procedure. However, the report also adds that it isn't yet known if such an exemption can be given to any other player seeking a similar solution or not.

The BCCI's preferential treatment of Virat Kohli, however, has sparked discussion about whether other players—particularly those who are recovering abroad or have personal commitments outside of India—will be granted similar leniency in the future.

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