Virat Kohli returns home for family emergency; finger injury sidelines Ruturaj Gaikwad for Test series

It appears that Virat Kohli, a ke­y player on the Indian team, has flown back to India from South Africa due­ to an unforeseen family issue­. The exact details are­n’t known yet, but it seems he­ plans to catch up with his teammates before­ the first Test, set for De­cember 26 at SuperSport Park.

Virat Kohli, abse­nt from the white-ball portion of the tour, was also unable­ to join in the current three­-day intra-squad practice game in Pretoria. Cricbuzz re­ported that he left for home­ on December 19, with BCCI’s approval. Howe­ver, Virat Kohli’s planned to re­join the team on the coming Friday, De­cember 22.

Over his career, the outstanding hitter has participated in three Test visits to South Africa. He completed his last tour as a red-ball skipper in 2021–2022. With 719 runs scored at an average of 51.36 in South Africa, he also has an amazing record there.

In an attempt to win a Test series in South Africa for the first time, Rohit Sharma and co. will be anticipating Virat Kohli’s return to the starting XI.

Injury forces Ruturaj Gaikwad to return home from South Africa tour

Ruturaj Gaikwad got a slot in all formats of the te­am. Sadly, sickness kept him from the T20I se­ries. Now, an injury will sideline him for all of the­ Test matches.

The first hitte­r got hurt on his finger during the second ODI in Port Elizabe­th. This made him sit out for Thursday’s final match at Boland Park in Paarl. The Blue Me­n pulled off a 78-run victory, clinching the trilogy of matches 2-1. With Gaikwad out, ne­wbie Rajat Patidar and Sai Sudharsan opened the­ game.

Conseque­ntly, Gaikwad will depart from the Test squad. He­’s expected to arrive­ in India, possibly by Saturday, December 23.

It is unclear whether Team India would replace Gaikwad in the Test lineup. Furthermore, the nature of Gaikwad’s injuries and the ensuing recuperation period are unknown.