South Africa Looks to Bounce Back in 2nd Test, Indian Captain Virat Kohli Left Out Due to Back Spasm

• South Africa and India will do battle at the Wanderers today as the Proteas look to level up in the series
• Indian will be without their captain and star player Virat Kohli, who was ruled out due to an upper back spasm
• South Africa need a win to avoid a series defeat but their team list has left many social media users questioning whether they actually want to win or not

South Africa will be looking to level the test series again India when the second test gets underway at Wanderers today.

South Africa go into the second test making two changes to the team that played in the first test while India are without captain Virat Kohli.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed on Twitter that Kohli would not play due to an upper back spasm. He was replaced by right-handed batsman, Hanuma Vihari.

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South Africa brought in Kyle Verreynne in place of Quinton de Kock. De Kock was due to miss out on the test anyway prior to retiring from test matches with immediate effect last week. Duanne Olivier also made his return to the test team, replacing Wiaan Mulder, Sport24 confirmed.

Proteas fans took to social media though to voice their frustration though at the changes, with many feeling that South Africa should have played another batsman.

The batting line-up came in for a lot of criticism in the first game as they failed to fire.

@MKRCINEMA:

"What's your obsession with picking Maharaj every time? Yes I love the guy. But you seriously needed another batsman. At least open with Bavuma. Don't waste Markram as an opener."

@JezzaMaqasa:

"Goodness gracious me, this team is a batter light. Couldn’t Keshav been rested for the Wanderers and at least be brought back in CT? This is suicidal, almost carrying Keshav as a passenger."

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@Shaun_Analytics:

"For a side that needs to score more runs this selection makes 0 sense… Let’s hope Dean’s hard talks and change room chats work. Because that seems to be the only thing they did to help the batting."

Gary Kirsten expresses interest in England test team coaching role, Twitter divided by idea

In other cricket news, Sports Brief reported that Legendary South African batsman Gary Kirsten has expressed interest in coaching the English cricket team, but only the test squad. The English test team are facing a whitewash series defeat in the Ashes against Australia and are currently seventh in the World Test Championship rankings.

Supersport reported that Kirsten would be keen to coach the English cricket team as long as he could only focus on red-ball cricket. The current coach of England, Chris Silverwood, finds himself in hot water as the test team go through a terrible run of form.

During his spells as coach of India and South Africa, Kirsten took both teams to the top of the test rankings. When expressing his interest in the England job he added that it would be a lovely project to work with the test team and get them back on track.