It is not the first time that Virat Kohli has been rested for an ODI match in recent times. When the Indian XI was revealed at the toss for the last Super 4 match against Bangladesh, there were as many as five changes from the previous game against Sri Lanka. The most conspicuous was Kohli’s name. There is no doubt that the match was inconsequential as India and Sri Lanka have already made it to Sunday’s Asia Cup final and it was a good opportunity to give the benched players a chance.

Before the toss, Kohli hardly participated in the warm-up activity and preferred to play football on his own and even went on to meet former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who is here as a commentator. He had a long chat with Shastri near the boundary. At that time itself it looked like the team management might rest him to give benched players a chance. One had thought Shreyas Iyer may be tried out, but the think-tank thought it prudent to give the Mumbai batter more time to recover from the back spasm he had suffered a few days ago.