Rohit Sharma Snubbed As S Sreesanth Picks India's X-Factors For South Africa Tests

Former India pacer S Sreesanth has snubbed India captain Rohit Sharma while picking the two X-factors ahead of the upcoming Test series against South Africa. India are scheduled to visit South Africa this month for three T20Is, three ODIs, and two Tests.

The squads have been already announced. Captain Rohit Sharma has been rested from the white-ball series but will return to action for the two-match Test series, starting on December 26. Rohit Sharma will be looking to lead the team to a famous series win in South Africa. India are yet to win a Test series in South Africa and the Rohit Sharma-led side has the opportunity to create history.

The last time India visited South Africa, they had a forgettable tour. They started the tour on a good note by winning the first Test before losing the following two games. The Proteas also whitewashed the Men in Blue in the three-match ODI series.

S Sreesanth picks X-factors for Team India:

As India gear up to play the challenging Test series in South Africa, S Sreesanth has picked Virat Kohli and KL Rahul as the X-factors while snubbing captain Rohit Sharma. Speaking to Firstpost, the World Cup-winning former bowler was all praise for Kohli and stated that the former India captain and Rahul could make the biggest difference for the team.

“Virat Kohli. Virat loves to keep proving, rather than to anybody but to himself. I think he’s that cricketer who actually plays with that pride and he takes that pride in a very good way, not in an egoistic way. So pride for me, and for Virat also I’m sure it’s like personal responsibility in delivering excellence. So, I will go with Virat and KL Rahul,” S Sreesanth said.

Just like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli has been rested for the T20I and ODI series as well. He will return to action during the Test series. Both the veteran batsmen were last seen in action during the World Cup. They starred in India’s dominating run to the final and finished the competition as the leading run-scorers. While Kohli was the highest run-scorer in the competition with 765 runs, Rohit Sharma was at the second spot with 597 runs.

India squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.