India's stand-in skipper KL Rahul won the toss and opted to bat first in the second Test of the three-match series against South Africa here at the Imperial Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on Monday.
Speaking about the toss, Rahul said, "Unfortunately Virat has had an upper back spasm 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, Proteas skipper 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. We have a lot of talent in our squad and we need to back him. 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."
Wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne will be in the Playing XI after Quinton De Kock announced his sudden retirement from Test cricket after the first game in Centurion.
India have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match Test series after defeating Proteas by 113 runs in the first game.
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
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
( With inputs from ANI )
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