Virat Kohli will be fit very soon, says Cheteshwar Pujara giving an update on Virat’s injury.
Indian red-ball skipper Virat Kohli missed the ongoing Johannesburg test match against South Africa after sustaining an upper back spasm. The news came out when instead of Virat walking out for the toss, opener batsman KL Rahul showed up.
Soon the BCCI updated that the skipper has suffered an upper back spasm and won’t be available for the second match against South Africa. Hanuma Vihari was brought back in playing11 in Virat’s absence.
“Team India Captain Mr Virat Kohli had a spasm on his upper back this morning. He won’t feature in the second Test against South Africa at The Wanderers. The BCCI medical team will be monitoring him during the course of this Test match,” wrote BCCI in a statement.
Team India’s test number 3, Cheteshwar Pujara, gave a much-needed update on Virat’s injury after the end of the play on day 3. Pujara, who scored a half-century in the second innings, said that Virat is recovering well and he will be fit very soon.
“Officially, I can’t say much but yes, he is definitely getting better and I feel that he will be fit soon. The physio can answer this better and I am sure an update will come from the BCCI very soon,” Pujara was quoted as saying to the reporters on Wednesday, January 5.
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Virat’s absence was a major shock for team India and clearly, India missed his services with Indian batting getting once again collapsed in the first innings after the loss of openers.
As of now, the match looks slightly tilted towards the hosts, who stood up strong on day 3. South Africa managed to score 118 runs in the loss of two wickets. Now, SA have to score 122 more runs in order to seal the second test match and level the series, while India needs eight wickets to stamp their authority in the match as well as in the series.
Time constraints will not be an issue and we will definitely see a proper result. South African skipper Dean Elgar looked strong on day 3 even after taking many body blows. He is standing tall at 46 runs in 121 balls. To support the captain, Rassie van der Dussen is available at the other end at 11 runs from 37 deliveries.
For India Shardul Thakur picked one wicket while one went in the bag of Ravichandran Ashwin.
Though the match looks a bit poised towards the hosts, the surface can easily play its tricks and shift the dynamics towards India. It would be wrong to completely rule out India from the match.
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