Vice captain of Indian cricket team: India have appointed a whole new vice-captain for the second Test match against South Africa.
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During the first day of the second Test of the ongoing India’s tour of South Africa in Johannesburg, India stand-in captain Lokesh Rahul (50) walked back to the pavilion right after completing his 13th Test half-century.
Rahul, who was named as regular Test captain Virat Kohli’s deputy for this series in the absence of Test vice-captain Rohit Sharma, is leading India for the first time in this match after Kohli has missed out due to an upper back spasm.
Opening the batting with Mayank Agarwal (26), Rahul went on to reach the 50-run mark despite wickets falling at regular intervals from the other end. Rahul, who has been patient enough in this format lately, never looked like wanting to break the shackles until a rank delivery to be hit was bowled to him.
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It was on the penultimate delivery of the 46th over when Rahul lost out on patience to pull a short delivery from Marco Jansen towards. Failing to pull the ball along the ground, Rahul was undone by an impressive catch by South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada.
Vice captain of Indian cricket team
While batter Hanuma Vihari (20) has replaced Kohli in the Playing XI after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out due to a stomach bug, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is playing the role of Rahul’s deputy in this match at The Wanderers.
It is worth mentioning that Rahul and Bumrah will also resume their roles of a captain and vice-captain respectively during a three-match ODI series against South Africa from January 19. With Sharma continuing his rehabilitation after a hamstring injury, Rahul and Bumrah had been handed the leadership role in an 18-member ODI squad which was announced on Friday.
