KL Rahul named Team India vice-captain for South Africa series

Mumbai: The All-India Senior selection committee of BCCI has named KL Rahul as vice-captain for the upcoming three-match Test series against South Africa.

Rahul replaced Rohit Sharma as vice-captain, who was ruled out of the Test series owing to a hamstring injury, according to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

This is short in the arm for Rahul as others openers including Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal were considered for selection. But, the Bengaluru lad got the opportunity when he made a comeback into the national side for the Nottingham Test in August where he scored a crucial 84 runs.

In the next Test at Lords, he cracked a century which helped India to score a victory over England. Rahul was in great form along with his opening partner Rohit Sharma in the series which India led 2-1 at the end of fourth test. The fifth Test has been postponed due to Covid pandemic.

Rahul, however, missed the home series against New Zealand due to injury, but was picked up for the South Africa tour after a recovery. He is poised to open with his Karnataka mate Mayank Agarwal in the first Test against the Springboks at Centurion on December 26.

India's Test squad: Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul (vc), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Priyank Panchal, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj. (UNI)