Vinod Kambli shares ‘valuable insights’ with Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant about South African conditions

Former India batter Vinod Kambli shared his inputs on the conditions in South African with Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant ahead of the team’s tour of the Rainbow Nation.

India’s squad for the three-match Test series will undergo a three-day quarantine in Mumbai before flying off to South Africa on Wednesday, December 16 by a charter flight.

On Monday, Kambli shared pictures of Rahane and Pant on his Twitter handle. Revealing that he had helped them train for the South African challenge, the 49-year-old wrote:

“Was a pleasure to help Ajinkya & Rishabh train for the upcoming South Africa series. Shared some valuable insights with them about the SA conditions. My best wishes to them for #SAvIND series.”

Kambli represented the Boland Cricket Club in South Africa in the early 2000s in a bid to revive his international career. He could not make a comeback into the Indian team though and ended his career with 17 Tests and 104 ODIs to his name.

33-year-old Rahane, who has been stripped of his Test vice-captaincy following an extended lean spell with the bat, will be keen to revive his career in the upcoming series. Rahane has played three Tests in South Africa in which he has scored 266 runs at an average of 53.20.

For Pant, this will be his first tour of South Africa. However, he has already played Test matches in Australia, England, New Zealand and West Indies.

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Rohit Sharma ruled out of South Africa Tests

Meanwhile, senior batter Rohit Sharma, who was named as vice-captain in place of Rahane, has been ruled out of the Test series in South Africa. The BCCI revealed that Sharma sustained a left hamstring injury during his training session in Mumbai on Sunday.

Priyank Panchal, who recently led the India A squad during the tour of South Africa, has been picked as Sharma's replacement. Panchal scored 120 runs for India A in three innings at an average of 40 and a highest of 96. He has 7011 runs to his name in 100 first-class matches at an average of 45.52.

India’s updated Test squad for South Africa: Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Priyank Panchal, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj