India v South Africa, 2nd Test: Virat Kohli misses Wanderers Test due to back spasm; KL Rahul leads, India bat

Johannesburg, January 3: Virat Kohli will miss the second Test against South Africa that started that the Wanderers on Monday (January 3) with upper back spasm. India lead the series 1-0 after beating the Proteas by 113 runs in the first Test at Centurion.

KL Rahul is leading India in the Test and the visitors won the toss and elected to bat. Hanuma Vihari replaced Kohli in the India playing 11 for the second Test.

Rahul is captaining India for the first time in Test cricket.

"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," stated a released from the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

"The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Jasprit Bumrah as vice-captain for the 2^ndTest," it added. It may be recalled that Bumrah has also been named as the ODI vice-captain.

"Team India batsman Shreyas Iyer was also ruled out of selection for the 2^ndTest owing to a stomach bug," the BCCI release added.

But there will be focus on the batting form of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara as well.

Not directly pointing towards Pujara and Ajinkya, the head coach Rahul Dravid had said there are phases in cricketers' careers when they are not able to replicate their past performance but added that it is just a matter of time for India's middle order before they come good.

"There are a variety of factors that happens. There are phases in your career where you probably are batting well but big scores are not coming. And it happens with everyone, but the good point is that they seem to be batting really well so they are getting the starts," said Dravid.

"They know how to convert it's not that these guys don't know how to score big runs. So it's just a matter of time, I am really hoping we will see some really good performance in coming days," he added.

Captains talk

KL Rahul, India skipper: ”Virat is having an upper back spasm. Every Indian player dreams to captain his country. Really looking forward to this. We will look to put some runs on the board and put the opposition under pressure. Hanuma Vihari comes in for Virat. No other change."

Dean Elgar, South Africa skipper: “It doesn't really bother me (who is the India captain. Kyle Verreynne is in for Quinny (Quinton de Kock) and Duanne Olivier for Wiaan Mulder. Losing Quinny is never ideal, losing a big player is never ideal but we need to move on. Just two changes. Cannot wait to get the Test underway."

Playing 11

South Africa: Dean Elgar(c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Duanne Olivier, Lungi Ngidi

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