India's Test captain Virat Kohli will miss the second Test against South Africa at the Wanderers stadium because of a back injury. K.L. Rahul will deputise in his absence.
Rahul walked out for the toss and said that his captain would be unavailable.
“Virat is having an upper back spasm,” said Rahul. “Every Indian player dreams to captain his country. I'm really looking forward to this. We will look to put some runs on the board and put the opposition under pressure.”
Hanuma Vihari comes in for Kohli and the rest of the side remains unchanged.
Kohli is expected to return for the third Test. He has been battling a prolonged lean patch with the willow, and will thus not be able to complete his landmark 100th Test in the series' third and final match at Cape Town.
He will also skip the ODI series against the Proteas starting January 19.
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For South Africa, wicketkeeping batsman Kyle Verreynne comes in for Quinton de Kock, who announced his retirement from Test cricket after the first Test. Fast bowler Duanne Olivier plays instead of Wiaan Mulder.
Rahul won the toss and has elected to bat first. The pitch is expected to aid fast bowlers as it has a lot of pace and bounce to offer.
India has never lost a Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, but rain could disrupt play in the second Test. Rain is forecasted for four of the five days of play.
Though rain had washed out an entire day's play in the first Test, India wrapped up the match on the last day with a dominant victory.
Should India win the Wanderers Test, it would be their first-ever series victory in South Africa.
Teams:
India: KL Rahul (c), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
South Africa: Dean Elgar (c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verreynne (w), Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Duanne Olivier and Lungi Ngidi.