Virat Kohli and co. made full use of the free time ahead of the 1st start against South Africa and posed for the cameras. The players, seniors and youngsters all tried different poses during the team photoshoot. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday posted some of the photoshoot videos on Twitter. There, the players were seen enjoying themselves before heading into the first Test match which will start on Wednesday in Vizag.
“All set Ready to rock and roll. Bring on the 1st Test #TeamIndia @Paytm #INDvSA,” BCCI captioned their video.
All set 📸📸
Ready to rock and roll 😎👌
Bring on the 1st Test 💪💪#TeamIndia @Paytm #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/2taHGB11kX— BCCI (@BCCI) October 1, 2019
India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday shared the team combination for the first Test. While Rohit Sharma is all set to open, after KL Rahul was dropped from Test cricket due to poor form, Rishabh Pant’s has been replaced by veteran Wriddhiman Saha.
After MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket, Wriddhiman Saha was India’s first-choice wicket-keeper but an injury in 2018 forced him to stay outside of the field for a long time which made the way for Rishabh Pant in the scene. Rishabh Pant performed well by scoring two centuries while playing overseas. But then a dismal show with the bat in the recent two-Test series against the West Indies led him to the exclusion.
Read here: Shafali Verma Can be The Opener India Are Looking For, Says Mithali Raj
Apart from Saha, Kohli backed Rohit Sharma too to do well in Test cricket as well. Mayank Agarwal, who has played just four Test so far, will open the innings with Rohit Sharma in the longer format. Kohli, who was questioned after he didn’t include Ravichandran Ashwin in the squad against the West Indies, announced that Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja both will play in the playing XI.
India Playing XI for 1st Test:
Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami.
