Has this Indian cricketer taken Virat Kohli’s jersey number 18?

Virat Kohli jersey number-18: Rishabh Pant, leading India A, is playing the first four-day match of a two-match series against South Africa A at the BCCI Centre of Excellence from Thursday, October 30. When captain Pant took to the field for this match, everyone was surprised because he was wearing Virat Kohli's jersey number 18 instead of his usual number 17. It is believed that this number is now vacant and Pant might be seen in this number in future international cricket as well, given that Kohli has retired from Test and T20 international cricket.

Return after recovering from fracture

Rishabh Pant will captain India A in two four-day red-ball matches against South Africa A from October 30 to November 9. He has returned to competitive cricket after recovering from a toe fracture sustained in the Manchester Test against England in July. His focus will now be on regaining his place in India's senior Test cricket team. The BCCI has announced two separate teams for these matches, with Sarfaraz Khan not being included. Sai Sudharsan has been appointed as Pant's deputy.

First blow at a score of 6 runs

Regarding the match, Rishabh Pant won the toss and invited South Africa to bat first. On the first day, by the time of this report, South Africa A had scored 153 runs for the loss of two wickets in 39 overs. The African team did not have a great start. They lost the wicket of opening batsman Lesege Senokwane at a score of just 6 runs in 3.1 overs. Senokwane was caught by Ayush Mhatre off a delivery from Anshul Kamboj without scoring any runs.

Hamza out after scoring a half-century

The African team suffered their second blow after lunch on the last ball of the 35th over, at a score of 136, when Zubair Hamza was caught behind by Pant off a delivery from Gurkeerat Brar. Hamza scored 66 runs. At the time of this report, opener Jordan Harman was batting on 64 and captain Marques Ackerman was on 5.