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South Africa Tour Of India
Enduring a lean patch, a jaded Virat Kohli, in all likelihood, will be rested for the upcoming five-match Twenty20 series against South Africa. The break is expected to help Kohli recharge his batteries before the high-profile England tour. It has been learnt that the national selection committee, headed by Chetan Sharma, would allow India's No.1 batter to take some time off from the game after spending considerable time in bio-bubble in the last two months. Kohli has been enduring the worst phase of his career as he has not scored a century in almost three years. "Virat Kohli in all probability will be rested for the South Africa series. He has been playing a lot of cricket and has been in the bubble for a long time," a senior BCCI official privy to development told PTI on conditions of anonymity. "It has been a policy decision regarding Kohli and other senior players that they will be given periodic breaks from time to time." South Africa are scheduled to play a five-match Twen
KL Rahul will don the vice-captaincy hat for the upcoming three-match Test series against South Africa.Rohit Sharma would have been the vice-captain, but a hamstring injury ruled him out of the series and hence Rahul would act as deputy to Virat Kohli.Sources in the know of developments confirmed to ANI that Rahul would indeed be the vice-captain for Tests against South Africa."Yes, with Rohit missing, KL Rahul would be the vice-captain," the source said.The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday had confirmed that Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the three-match Test series against South Africa due to a hamstring issue."Team India Test vice-captain Rohit Sharma sustained a left hamstring injury during his training session here in Mumbai yesterday," the BCCI stated in an official release."He has been ruled out of the upcoming 3-match Test series against South Africa. Priyank Panchal will replace Rohit Sharma in the Test squad," it added.
The South African ODI team arrived here on Monday for a three-match series against India starting in Dharamsala from March 12. The 16-member side will be flying to the hill city on Monday itself while the Indian squad will reach the venue on Tuesday. The centrally contracted Indian players will undergo a series of medical tests at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru to ascertain fitness as well as to assess workload. The visiting team is accompanied by Cricket South Africa's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Shuaib Manjra, due to the prevalent novel coronavirus threat. India has recorded 39 cases so far, while the number of infected has gone beyond one lakh internationally. The series' second and third ODI will be played in Lucknow (March 15) and Kolkata (March 18). South Africa squad: Quinton de Kock (c & wk), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran ..
India batsman Rohit Sharma, who became the first player to score a century in each innings of his maiden Test as opener, on Monday jumped to a career-best 17th position in the ICC Test Player Rankings. Rohit, who now has five centuries from 28 Tests, gained a whopping 36 slots after his knocks of 176 and 127 in the first Test against South Africa in Visakhapatnam helped India win by 203 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The other opener Mayank Agarwal has also attained a career-best 25th position after his first innings double-century lifted him 38 places. Captain Virat Kohli, who retained his second spot, has dropped below the 900-point mark for the first time since January 2018. He is now on 899 points, 38 behind top-ranked Steve Smith of Australia. Among the bowlers, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has made a comeback to the top 10 after his match haul of eight wickets, which included figures of seven for 145 in the first innings. The formerly top-ranked bowle