CAPE TOWN: India captain Virat Kohli is likely to return to the playing XI for the series-deciding third Test against South Africa at the Newlands tomorrow.
“I am absolutely fit,” said Virat Kohli at the pre-match press conference on Monday. The India captain had missed the second Test due to a back spasm but will return to the XI for the decider.
Kohli did not feature in the second Test due to an upper back spasm as India lost the game by 7 wickets.
With the series now level at 1-1, Kohli would aim to help India win their first-ever Test series on South African soil. Besides that, the 33-year-old will also eye a personal milestone in Cape Town.
On KL Rahul’s captaincy, he said: “KL (Rahul) tried to take wickets in the second innings but South Africa played very good cricket. I don’t think he could have done anything different there. Yes, I probably would have done certain things differently but the objective would have been the same. Every individual has a different style of captaining.”
Kohli is just 14 runs away from overtaking former India batter Rahul Dravid as India’s second-highest run-getter in South Africa in the longest format of the game.
Kohli, who averages around 50 in South Africa, has so far scored 611 runs against the Proteas in the longer format of the game. The current of the India team, on the other hand, aggregated 624 runs in 11 Test matches in South Africa.