Stand-in India captain KL Rahul won the toss and elected to bat in the second Test against South Africa here on January 3.
Rahul is leading the side in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli, who has been ruled out of the Test due to an upper back spasm. Rahul said during the toss that the captain is expected to be available for the series final from January 11.
“Virat has a cramp in his upper back. The physios are working on him and hopefully he will recover in time for the next Test,” he added.
Kohli, who has been battling a lean patch for a long time with the Willows, will thus miss out on completing his historic 100th Test in the third and final match of the series in Cape Town. He will also not play in the ODI series against the Proteas starting on January 19.
Hanuma Vihari replaced Kohli in the visiting team’s playing XI.
South Africa made two changes from the playing XI, having lost in the first Test with Kyle Wren, the recently retired Quinton de Kock and Duane Olivier replacing Viaan Mulder.
India are leading 1-0 in the three-match series.
Teams: India: KL Rahul (c), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj.
South Africa: Dean Elgar (c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Pietersen, Rassi van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verne (w), Marco Jensen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Duane Olivier and Lungi Ngidi.
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