SA vs IND: Jasprit Bumrah named vice-captain for Johannesburg Test

KL Rahul walked out alongside Dean Elgar for the toss as Virat Kohli has been suffering a back spasm for the second Test. This was least expected as the Indian test skipper Kohli did not take part in the second Test while KL Rahul is set to lead. The Indian team had a lot of choices to name for the vice-captain and they chose Jasprit Bumrah for the role.

This will be a good challenge for the previous game’s centurion, while Hanuma Vihari has returned to the playing XI after almost a year. The bowling attack remains the same with Shardul Thakur and R Ashwin playing the all-rounder roles. Chesteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane will get another chance to prove their worth on the side now.

Jasprit Bumrah making inroads in captaincy

Jasprit Bumrah, who was recently appointed the vice-captain of the Indian ODI side for South Africa, has earned a promotion now in Tests. Bumrah’s all-format performances in the last few years have been superb and he deserved to get the vice-captaincy too. He is already the leader of the bowling group and the team has definitely invested in his thought process too. Bumrah has never captained or been the vice-captain in international cricket so far and in IPL as well.

Virat Kohli, meanwhile, is a big loss for the Indian side as he is more than just a batter in the side and has led India to many wins overseas in the last few years. The second Test is not going to be an easy one for India as the Wanderers pitch is known to the fast bowlersl. Vihari was quite impressive in the A tour of South Africa in which he scored 227 runs in just 3 tests.

Indian playing XI for the second Test

India (Playing XI): KL Rahul (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah(VC), Mohammed Siraj

India will be looking to take a leaf out of the book in the previous Johannesburg test in 2019 where they scripted an excellent win despite losing the series 2-1.