The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli was immensely surprised for the all-important toss in the third Test being played at JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi. Faf du Plessis had revealed ahead of the third and final Test that he may use a proxy, following his rotten luck at the coin toss, which has seen him lose the previous six times the coin has been flipped.
However, at the toss, Kohli just couldn’t be smiling after being sandwiched by two South Africans — Proteas captain Faf du Plessis and the proxy captain Temba Bavuma. But as luck would have it, Virat flipped the coin but Bavuma got it wrong with the home skipper winning his third straight toss of the Test series.
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Following the toss, Virat patted just patted Bavuma’s shoulder, sporting a wry smile. And when he came to speak to Murali Karthik, the Indian skipper just couldn’t stop laughing, saying “Oh man”. Here is the video of Kohli’s hilarious reaction here:
Virat Kohli called it a no-brainer to bat first at the Toss #TeamIndia #INDvSA @Paytm 🇮🇳🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/3V4fKvcVWr
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 19, 2019
India made one change to their squad from the one that completely outclassed the Proteas in Pune. Ishant Sharma was rested with Shahbaz Nadeem making his Test debut for India.
South Africa made as many as five changes to their team. Vernon Philander, Theunis de Bruyn, Aiden Markram, Keshav Maharaj and Senuran Muthusamy all sitting out. Lungi Ngidi, Zubayr Hamza, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde and Dane Piedt came into the team, hoping to deny a whitewash.
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Speaking at the toss, Kohli said that it was a no-brainer to bat first in Ranchi.
Virat further elaborated, “Looks like a good wicket. Will be hard upfront and then got slower. Like the typical Ranchi wicket. It’s a no-brainer to bat first on this one. I don’t think it’s gonna be slow but it will keep lower than Pune maybe. As long as it turns with pace on the ball, we don’t mind the bounce. It shows that it isn’t meant to be (about using Bavuma as a proxy skipper for luck). Important toss as this looks the driest surface of the series. It’s about the first innings really and we need to put runs on the board when we bat.”
