Ishant Sharma was ignored for the Cape Town Test match as Umesh Yadav was included in India XI.
South Africa and India are clashing in the series-deciding Test match in Newlands and India won the toss and chose to bat first. Apart from Virat Kohli coming in for Hanuma Vihari, injured Mohammed Siraj was replaced by Umesh Yadav.
Mohammed Siraj had suffered a right hamstring injury in the second Test in Johannesburg and struggled to bowl in the second innings of the match. Kohli, on the other hand, returned from his back spasm, which kept him out of the Jo’Burg Test, where KL Rahul led the team.
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With Ishant, who has got the experience of playing seven Tests in the Rainbow nation, not getting the nod for the series decider, many have started to wonder what is next for the Delhi-based pacer who recently completed 100 Tests and 300 wickets in the format.
“It was a tough decision between Ishant and Umesh. Umesh is bowling amazingly well. We've got great bench strength," Kohli said during the toss.
The decision to pick Umesh Yadav over Ishant Sharma sent waves across the cricket fraternity and fans on social media, as some of them were not happy with the decision to leave out Ishant, who has done well for India in the past and wondered what’s next for his Test career.
Here are some of the tweets: