Star batter Virat Kohli has headed back home due to some personal emergency, and is likely to reunite with the national team before the start of the first Test against South Africa on Boxing Day (December 26) in Centurion.

While the nature of the emergency was not clear, the Delhi batter, was in South Africa as part of the red-ball squad after he along with skipper Rohit Sharma had taken an extended break from the white-ball leg of the tour, that culminated on Thursday with India winning the ODI series 2-1, while sharing the honours in the T20I series 1-1, with a game washed out.

It has been learnt that Kohli had asked for a break for a couple of days from the Indian team management to return to India, and has therefore missed the ongoing three-day intra-squad game in Pretoria’s Tuks Oval.

Kohli, who is expected to join the team before the first Test, has an excellent record against the Proteas, scoring 1236 runs in 24 innings at an average of 56.18. He has three hundreds and four fifties against the South Africans.

He recorded one of his most memorable Test knocks against South Africa when he scored an unbeaten 254 in the second Test in Pune to steer India to a victory by an innings and 137 runs in 2019.

South Africa remains the final frontier for India as they have never won a Test series in the Rainbow nation, and winning the series will also boost India’s prospects for a third successive appearance in the World Test Championship final. While the first Test will be played from December 26-30, the second Test will be played at Cape Town from January 3-7.

As part of their preparations for the two-Test series, the Indian team management rested the senior players from the white-ball formats during the tour. Besides Rohit and Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah also missed both the T20I and ODI games while Shreyas Iyer featured in just a single ODI before joining the Test squad. Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj also warmed the bench during the entire three-match ODI series.

Gaikwad ruled out

Opener Ruturaj Gaikwad has been ruled out of the Test series due to a fracture to his finger which is likely to take him five weeks to recover from. A replacement for Gaikwad is likely to be named soon.

Abhimanyu Easwaran, who is currently part of the India A squad that is on a shadow tour of South Africa, has been sounded out to replace Gaikwad as the reserve opener. Abhimanyu struck an unbeaten 61 on the second day of the practice game in Pretoria before being retired by the team management. Abhimanyu is likely to feature for India A in the second four-day match against South Africa A, also beginning on December 26, barring any last-minute changes. He will then join the national squad ahead of the New Year’s Test.

The 26-year-old right-hander suffered the injury to his finger during the second ODI against the Proteas at Port Elizabeth on December 19. In his absence, India handed a debut to Rajat Patidar for the series-deciding final ODI in Paarl, which India won.

KL Rahul, India’s stand-in ODI captain, and Mukesh Kumar are expected to link up with the Test squad after a day’s rest following the ODI series.