Picked Rohit over Rahane on current form: Kohli

Cape Town, India captain Virat Kohli has defended the selection of Rohit Sharma ahead of Ajinkya Rahane in the opening Test. “Well, we decided to go on current form,” Kohli said after losing the series-opener by 72 runs. “Rohit had scored runs in the last three Test matches he played, and was batting well, even in the series against Sri Lanka.”
“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 a criterion.”
Rahane, who has not been among runs of late, had a successful tour of South Africa four years ago. With 209 runs, he was the third highest run-getter in the series behind Kohli (272 runs) and Cheteshwar Pujara (280).
Key was to keep Virat quiet, says Philander
South Africa’s plan was to keep Virat Kohli quiet and Vernon Philander said his team executed it to perfection. “Virat is a good and aggressive player. The key is to keep him quiet and to make sure you set him up for the other one,” said Philander. “It was probably two-and-a-half overs of away-swingers and then the one back at him. It was definitely a plan to keep him quiet, and also to drag him across to make sure that when you do bowl the other one, he is on the other side of the off-stump.
“I was not worried about his DRS review. I knew it was stone dead,” he added, referring to the review sought by Kohli after he was ruled LBW.
With just 208 to defend against India, Philander said he knew he had to take the responsibility and put his team in a good position. “When you look at the type of score that you have to defend, someone has to make the play. You can’t wait for later in the game because there might not be a ‘later on in the game’,” he said. “I knew I had to bowl overs upfront and put us in a good position. I just wanted to bowl and make a difference.”