In the T20 International series against New Zealand, India will be without both Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma.
Hardik Pandya, an all-rounder, is thus captaining the team in the T20I series against the Kiwis.
There were concerns that the Indian administration and selectors were looking beyond Kohli in terms of the 20-over format given
that he was not included in the Indian side for the T20Is against Sri Lanka as well.
At a press conference a few days ago, Team India's head coach Rahul Dravid did, however, clarify that the 34-year-old was being rested as part of the think tank's workload management strategy.
When asked why Kohli hadn't been selected for recent T20I teams, Dravid responded as follows:
At specific points in time, we must assign various white-ball competitions a given level of importance.
We must prioritize several white-ball competitions due to the volume of cricket we play, including the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the World Test Championship.