Newly appointed vice-captain KL Rahul has hinted that a tough call will be taken by the Indian think tank while announcing the final playing XI for the upcoming Test match between hosts South Africa and the visitors on Thursday. Premier batter Rahul was named as Virat Kohli’s deputy after opener Rohit Sharma suffered a hamstring injury in the lead-up to the three-match Test series in South Africa. The Indian opener chaired the traditional press conference ahead of the series opener on Friday.
Preparations are in full swing at the Indian camp in Centurion as India are eyeing a historic tour of South Africa in the 2021/2022 season. Under the leadership of Kohli, India had suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Proteas when the Asian giants last toured the rainbow nation. Speaking ahead of the 1st Test between India and hosts South Africa, Rahul showered praise on former vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer.
“It is a very difficult decision to make, obviously. Ajinkya has been a very important part of our Test team and he has played very crucial knocks in his career. In the last 15-18 months, if I can think back, his knock in Melbourne was really crucial and helped us win a Test match. That partnership with Pujara at Lord’s in the second innings, where he got a fifty, was really important. That ended up in us winning the Test match. So he has been a key player of us in that middle-order,” Rahul said.
Rahane and Iyer are pitted against each other as the Indian think is expected to accommodate only one middle-order batter in the playing XI for the Boxing Day Test at Centurion. While Rahane has hit a rough patch in the second edition of the ICC World Test Championship, the white-ball maverick smashed a sensational ton against New Zealand on his debut Test match to cement his place in the red-ball squad for the South Africa series.
“Shreyas, obviously, has taken his chances. He played a brilliant knock in Kanpur, got a hundred. So he is very excited and Hanuma (Vihari) has also done well for us. It’s a tough decision but we’ll start having the chat probably today or tomorrow. You’ll get to know in a couple of days’ time,” Rahul added. The first Test of the three-match series will be played at SuperSport Park on Sunday.
