Toss-up between Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav for a ticket to South Africa

Virat Kohli is likely to be rested for the 3rd Test and the limited overs series against Sri Lanka. And it will a head-to-head between spinner Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah for the extra bowler’s position when the national selectors pick the squad for South Africa Test series. Four squads will be announced in total. One will be for the third Test against Sri Lanka followed by ODI and T20 squads and the tour to the rainbow nation – Test squad for the South Africa series.

The Indian captain has been playing non-stop cricket since the IPL and he will be getting much-needed break ahead of the African tour, as he needs to be charged up for the tour. Rohit Sharma will step in and lead the team in the limited overs series.

“Definitely I do need rest, why don’t I need rest? When I think of the time my body should be rested, I’ll ask for it. I am not a robot you can slice my skin and check I bleed,” Kohli told reporters on the eve of India’s first Test against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens from Thursday.

Kohli set to be rested

The chairman of selectors MSK Prasad had said that Kohli will play all the three Tests and he will be rested for the ODIs and T20Is. “There is no confusion and Kohli is available for all the three Test matches against Sri Lanka. We will look at resting him after that. He too deserves rest and the rotation policy will be applicable even for the skipper,” he said.

BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary had said that Rahane will be the vice-captain. Interestingly, a deputy is usually named on away tours. “The team has been picked for the first two matches as of now and the decision was made to name Rahane the deputy. I do not see the reason to speculate whether Rahane has been named deputy because Kohli has made himself unavailable for the third Test,” he told CricketNext.