Revealed: Why Hanuma Vihari Replaced Virat Kohli In India's Playing XI Instead Of Shreyas Iyer

Indian Test captain Virat Kohli was ruled out of the second Test against South Africa that is ongoing at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer were the replacement options and the former got the vote.

In place of Kohli, KL Rahul was named as the captain, just a couple of days after he was appointed as the captain of the ODI team for the 3-match series against South Africa. It is quite the change for Rahul, who wasn’t even in contention for a place in the side until the England tour.

As for Vihari, he was sent with India ‘A’ team when it toured South Africa last month. He placed a few good knocks and rightfully replaced Kohli in the squad. Iyer, on the other hand, also impressed in his debut series but was kept out due to a stomach bug, the BCCI confirmed.

“Team India captain Mr. Virat Kohli had a spasm on his upper back this morning. He won’t feature in the second Test against South Africa at The Wanderers. The BCCI medical team will be monitoring him during the course of this Test match.“

“KL Rahul will captain the side in his absence. The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Jasprit Bumrah as vice-captain for the 2nd Test. Team India batsman Shreyas Iyer was also ruled out of selection for the 2nd Test owing to a stomach bug,” the statement from BCCI read.

Apart from Kohli, no other changes were made in the Indian team and they have decided to stick with the same bowling unit.

India’s playing XI for 2nd Test:

KL Rahul (c), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

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