Johannesburg – India captain Virat Kohli was a late withdrawal for the second Test against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on Monday.
Stand-in captain KL Rahul, who won the toss and decided to bat, said Kohli had suffered an upper back spasm.
Rahul said India wanted to build on their 113-run win in the first Test in Centurion last week.
“It was a good Test match overall,” he said. “We want to continue that and probably get better in certain areas.”
Hanuma Vihari, who was the leading run-scorer for India A in a recent four-day series against South Africa A, replaced Kohli in the only change in the Indian team.
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South Africa made two changes, with Kyle Verreynne replacing the recently retired Quinton de Kock as wicketkeeper, while fast bowler Duanne Olivier came in for all-rounder Wiaan Mulder.
South Africa captain Dean Elgar said of Kohli’s absence, “it doesn’t really bother me.”
Elgar said his team were determined to play their way back into the three-match series.
“We don’t have a lot of time to lick our wounds. We have to crack on and put up a good performance.”
Teams:
South Africa: Dean Elgar (captain), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Duanne Olivier, Lungi Ngidi
India: KL Rahul (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Ajinkya Rahane, Risabh Pant (wkt), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Umpires: Marais Erasmus, Allahuddien Paleker (both RSA)
TV umpire: Adrian Holdstock (RSA)
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
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Picture: Getty Images
Source: AFP
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