In the opening Test match of three-match series at Newlands Cape Town, Virat Kohli and the team management were criticized for benching Test specialist Ajinkya Rahane for Rohit Sharma.

On Friday, Indian skipper Virat Kohli slammed his critics by stating that the team balance and combination will not be influenced by the opinion of outsiders. Virat also pointed out that before the first Test everyone was saying that Rahane should not be in playing eleven.

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“Its funny. Before the last Test, everyone was saying Ajinkya Rahane should not be included in playing XI. Now, in one week, that has changed. Everyone is saying he should be. We don’t decide the playing XI as per outside opinion,” Kohli said ahead of the 2nd Test.

When Virat Kohli was asked about the possible changes in India’s playing XI, he said there is going to be some detailed discussion about the opening combination of the visitors which suggest that Shikhar Dhawan’s position is in the doubt ahead of the match after his two poor departures against short-pitched deliveries in opening Test.

Faf du Plessis boys will be high on confidence with their golden run over Virat’s side when they will face visitors at Centurion for the second Test.

“We were pretty happy with the wicket and the way it played in Cape Town, it gave us many opportunities to stay in the game,” said Kohli.

“This pitch will again test us to play our best cricket and that is something we are looking forward to,” Virat added.

Virat was all praises for the Indian pacers for their performance at Cape Town. “We’re very happy with the way the bowlers went about their business. We believe we can get them out twice again,” Kohli further stated.

The 29-year-old also confessed that Indian squad had learn from their mistakes in Cape Town

“There is no need to panic as a batting unit, we have played well for a long time – and we have played well away from home as well. We just need to apply ourselves better.”

In the second Test even after their 72 run win, South Africa need to make at least one change in the playing eleven as their star pacer Dale Steyn had injured himself in the first Test.

“The team we selected last week was the right team and it worked pretty well,” said Faf Du Plessis.

“We have to decide whether we go with the same balance of four seamers and a spinner or whether we go for more of an all-rounder,” Proteas skipper added.