Why is Virat Kohli not playing today’s 2nd Test between South Africa and India in Johannesburg?

Virat Kohli not playing: The Indian Test captain won’t be taking the field in the second Test match at The Wanderers.

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 has won the toss and chose to bat.

“Really honoured and looking forward to this challenge. We have had a few good wins here and hopefully we’ll look to continue that. It was a good Test at Centurion overall. We really performed well as a team and are really excited about this match,” Rahul told SuperSport at the toss in his first international match as captain.

Losing his second toss in a row, South Africa captain Dean Elgar was unperturbed by regular India captain Virat Kohli missing this match. “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,” Elgar told SuperSport at the toss.

Why is Virat Kohli not playing vs South Africa?

In what is the only change made by India to their Playing XI, Kohli won’t take part in this match due to an upper back spasm. Readers must note that Rahul had replaced injured Rohit Sharma as the Test vice-captain for this tour.

“Unfortunately, Virat [Kohli] has had an upper back spasm, the physios are working on him and hopefully he’ll recover for the next Test. Hanuma Vihari comes in place of Virat,” Rahul added. While India have registered a fair call by including batter Hanuma Vihari as Kohli’s replacement, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been named as Rahul’s deputy for this match.

If you are KL Rahul, you must think life is a roller-coaster…..

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) January 3, 2022

South Africa, on the other hand, have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI. While wicket-keeper batter Kyle Verryenne has replaced the recently retired Quinton de Kock, the hosts have bolstered their bowling unit by including fast bowler Duanne Olivier for all-rounder Wiaan Mulder.

“Losing Quinny [Quinton de Kock] is never ideal. He has been a big player for us. Losing any big player is never ideal. But we need to move on,” Elgar mentioned.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Read More