Johannesburg: India led by KL Rahul on Monday won the toss and opted to bat first here at The Wanderers Stadium in the second Test match.
Virat Kohli misses out on the second Test due to upper back spasm and KL Rahul is set to lead to side against the Proteas. All-rounder Hanuma Vihari has come in the playing XI to replace Kohli.
At the toss, the Indian captain said, "Unfortunately Virat has had an upper back spasm, the physios are working on him and hopefully he'll recover for the next Test. It is every Indian player's dream to captain his country. Really honoured and looking forward to this challenge. We have had a few good wins here and hopefully we'll look to continue that. Hanuma Vihari comes in place of VIrat. Just the one change. It was a good Test at Centurion overall. We really performed well as a team and are really excited about this match."
On the other hand, South Africa captain Dean Elgar said, "(On Kohli missing out It doesn't really bother me, we have got a Test match to play. Two changes: Kyle Verryenne comes in for QdK and Duanne Olivier for Mulder. Losing Quinny is never ideal. He has been a big player for us. Losing any big player is never ideal. But we need to move on. We have a lot of talent in our squad and we need to back them. There were a lot of good things you can speak about at Centurion. You need to be fair to the environment. a lot of positives and good conversations for us to take out of that."
Teams:
South Africa (Playing XI): Dean Elgar(c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Duanne Olivier, Lungi Ngidi
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul(c), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
