India vs South Africa: Virat Kohli says decision to drop Ajinkya Rahane and include Rohit Sharma was based on 'current form'

"These things can always be looked at in hindsight thinking what if or what if not," said Kohli.

PTI, Jan,09 2018

Cape Town: India captain Virat Kohli has defended the selection of Rohit Sharma in the first Test, saying he was picked ahead of Ajinkya Rahane on current form.

India's Rohit Sharma. Reuters

India's batsman Rohit Sharma. Reuters

"Well, we decided to go on current form. Rohit has scored runs in the last three Test matches that he has played, and he was batting well, even in the series against Sri Lanka," said Kohli in the post-match media conference.

"These things can always be looked at in hindsight thinking what if or what if not. But we decided to go with this combination and current form was definitely the criterion," added Kohli.

Rahane, who has not been amongst the runs of late, had a successful tour of South Africa four years ago. With 209 runs, he was third highest run-getter in the series behind Kohli (272 runs) and Cheteshwar Pujara (280).

India lost the first Test by 72 runs with batting letting them down in both the innings.

Published Date: Jan 09, 2018 | Updated Date: Jan 09, 2018




Rank Team Points Rating
1 India 4969 124
2 South Africa 3888 111
3 Australia 4174 104
4 New Zealand 3489 100
5 England 4829 99
6 Sri Lanka 4058 94
Rank Team Points Rating
1 South Africa 6386 120
2 India 6680 119
3 Australia 5948 114
4 England 6156 114
5 New Zealand 6109 113
6 Pakistan 4684 98
Rank Team Points Rating
1 New Zealand 2262 126
2 Pakistan 2843 124
3 India 3385 121
4 England 2029 119
5 West Indies 2538 115
6 South Africa 2238 112