Virat Kohli pulls out of opening two Tests against England in blow to India

India's plans for the upcoming Test series against England have been disrupted after star batter Virat Kohli withdrew from the squad due to personal reasons.

Kohli is India’s middle-order linchpin but has pulled out of the five-match series opener in Hyderabad, starting on Thursday, as well as the second Test in Visakhapatnam, beginning on February 2.

The 35-year-old boasts nearly 9,000 Test runs and 29 centuries, leaving a major hole in the India XI. He has also excelled on home soil against England, averaging 56.38 in 13 Tests.

India have named just six specialist batters in their squad, as well as wicketkeepers KS Bharat and Dhruv Jurel, with a replacement for Kohli set to be announced.

India are already without one of their first-choice seamers, with Mohammed Shami still working his way back to fitness.

Kohli, who amassed 765 runs in 11 ODI World Cup matches for runners-up India last year, missed the white-ball leg of the South African tour in 2023 and two T20 matches against Afghanistan at home recently but came back to the side to complete the series.

“Virat has spoken to captain Rohit Sharma, the team management and the selectors and has emphasised that while representing the country has always been his top priority, certain personal situations demand his presence and undivided attention,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in statement.

“The BCCI respects his decision and the board and team management has extended its support to the star batter and is confident in the abilities of the remaining squad members to step up and deliver commendable performances in the Test series.”

The statement added: “The BCCI requests the media and fans to respect Virat Kohli's privacy during this time and refrain from speculating on the nature of his personal reasons.”

India are unbeaten in a Test series at home since 2012 when Alastair Cook's touring England team beat the hosts 2-1.

Ben Stokes' England have landed in Hyderabad after holding a training camp in Abu Dhabi.

The tourists will be without the services of Harry Brook who also pulled out of the opening game due to personal reasons, with Dan Lawrence called-up as his replacement.

Since making his debut in the final Test of the 2022 summer, Brook has averaged 62.15, at a strike rate of 91.76, from 12 appearances, with four hundreds.

He was particularly prolific on England's tour of Pakistan in late 2022, where he was the Player of the Series for scoring 468 runs from five innings at an average of 93.60.

“Harry Brook is set to return home with immediate effect for personal reasons from the England men's Test tour of India,” the ECB said in a statement.

Harry Brook was in prolific form for England during the 2022 Test series in Pakistan. Getty Images

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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