Captain Virat Kohli ruled out of second Test due to back spasm
Johannesburg(PTI): India captain Virat Kohli was on Monday ruled out of the second Test against South Africa here just before start of the game because of an upper back spasm, leaving K L Rahul to lead the side in the crucial match.
Rahul said at the toss that Kohli is expected to be available for the third and final Test from January 11.
"Unfortunately, Virat is having an upper back spasm. The physios are working on him and hopefully he will recover in time for the next Test," Rahul said at the toss when asked about Kohli's absence from the match.
All-rounder Hanuma Vihari has come in the playing XI to replace Kohli.
Kohli, who has been battling a prolonged lean patch with the willow, will thus not be able to complete his landmark 100th Test in the series-finale at Cape Town.
The 33-year-old will be playing in the ODI series against the Proteas starting January 19. Rahul will captain India in that rubber as regular white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma is out injured.
The BCCI also issued a statement later in which it informed that Jasprit Bumrah would be Rahul's deputy during the match here. Bumrah is also due to play the same role during the ODI series
As per the Indian team's fixtures, Kohli, if all goes well, will now get to play his 100th Test against Sri Lanka at Bengaluru in February.
It is worth noting that head coach Rahul Dravid, while addressing the pre-match press conference on Sunday, gave no indication of any possible injury concerns over Kohli, who is locked in a war of words with the BCCI over the way his white-ball captaincy tenure ended.
Dravid, one of India's all-time greats, had lent support to the superstar batter for the "phenomenal" manner in which he has led the team despite "all the noise around him".
Kohli kicked up a storm before the ongoing tour by stating that he was never asked to reconsider leaving T20 captaincy as asserted by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly.
His statement was met with a rebuttal from chief selector Chetan Sharma who said that Kohli was requested to hold his decision at least till the end of the T20 World Cup. After relinquishing T20 leadership, Kohli was remoed as ODI captain in December.
Ever since that dramatic press conference in which he contradicted Ganguly, Kohli has not had a media interaction and Dravid on Sunday said that the star would make himself available for questions on the eve of his 100th Test.
With that now effectively moved to next month, it remains to be seen whether Kohli would show up for the media conference before the Cape Town Test, on Monday next.
Kohli enjoys an impeccable record in Johannesburg where he has scored a century and a couple of half-centuries in two Test matches.
Overall, he has scored 310 runs at the iconic Wanderers and stood just seven runs away from owning another batting record -- most Test runs scored at the venue.
The visiting team won the series-opener last week and is now eyeing its maiden Test series triumph in South Africa.
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Sonia Gandhi's attempt to launch Rahul from Raebareli will fail: Amit Shah
Hukkeri (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh after running away from Amethi and predicted that he will lose the polls there against the BJP candidate by a huge margin.
He also said former AICC President Sonia Gandhi's multiple attempts to "launch" Rahul Gandhi had failed and claimed that this was the twenty-first attempt.
The top BJP leader addressed a public meeting here in Belagavi district for party candidate from Chikkodi Lok Sabha segment Annasaheb Jolle.
"Modi ji tried and at once Chandrayaan (mission to Moon) got launched. Sonia Gandhi has launched this 'yaan' named Rahul Baba (Rahul Gandhi) twenty times, but her launching has not been successful. Today for the twenty-first time, running away from Amethi, he has filed nomination from Raebareli," Shah said.
He said, "Rahul Baba, I'm telling the result of Raebareli from here. Against BJP's candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, you will lose by a huge margin. Write down my words."
Rahul Gandhi is contesting the elections from the Raebareli seat in Uttar Pradesh, the constituency held by his mother Sonia Gandhi for the last two decades.
Kishori Lal Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat, the party said in a statement on Friday.
The two seats will go to polls on May 20 in the fifth of the seven-phase general election.
Ending days of suspense, the party announced the candidates from the two seats on Friday.
Raebareli is a constituency which had earlier elected Rahul Gandhi's mother Sonia Gandhi, his grandmother Indira Gandhi and his grandfather Feroze Gandhi.
The constituency has also been represented by family members and friends of the Gandhi-Nehru family.
Rahul Gandhi has also contested the ongoing Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad in Kerala which went to polls on April 26.
