Mumbai: KL Rahul’s stars are shining bright.
After Team India’s Test vice-captain Rohit Sharma was forced to pull out of the South Africa tour due to a recurring hamstring injury, the stylish Karnataka batsman has been named Virat Kohli’s deputy for the upcoming three-match series.
The Indian team is already in South Africa, preparing for the Test series which will be followed by three ODIs.
Rohit had been named vice-captain in place of Ajinkya Rahane, who has suffered a loss of form though he is part of the squad. Unfortunately, Rohit’s hamstring played up again and he is currently doing rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru. He is expected to be fit for the ODI series, in which he will lead India replacing Kohli as captain. Gujarat opener Priyank Panchal replaced Rohit in the squad.
The change of guard in ODIs sparked a controversy, with Kohli claiming that he was informed he won’t be captain in the 50-over format only during the telephonic team selection discussion with chief selector Chetan Sharma earlier this month.
Kohli also denied that the BCCI or its president Sourav Ganguly had tried to dissuade him from relinquishing the India T20I captaincy, as claimed earlier by Ganguly.
Also Read: ODI Captaincy: Kohli Drops Bombshell, Rubbishes BCCI Chief Ganguly’s Claim
The first Test between India and South Africa starts at Centurion on December 26. The second Test will be played at Johannesburg from January 3, 2022 and the series-finale will be held at Cape Town from January 11.
TEAM INDIA TEST SQUAD
Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Priyank Panchal, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md Siraj.
