(Cricket news) Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the 3 match Test Series in South Africa after sustaining a hamstring injury while training. India who were already without Axar Patel, Shubman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja will now be without another key player in Rohit. 

Rohit Sharma has arguably been the best opener in Tests this year. With good performances away against England and Australia, Sharma proved his critics wrong. South Africa was the next step which has now been ruined by his left hamstring. Although the Mumbai batter averages only 15.38 in away Tests against South Africa with no scores above 50, the tide was expected to change after he picked up away form this year.

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The injury news comes 5 days after Rohit Sharma replaced Ajinkya Rahane as the Test vice captain and Virat Kohli as the ODI captain. BCCI are yet to announce an official vice captain for the Test series. Priyank Panchal has earned his maiden call-up after more than decade of good domestic performances. Panchal was also the captain of the India A side that performed well away against South Africa A.

Panchal is called up ahead of Prithvi Shaw and Abhimanyu Easawaran who have been with the Test side before. The Gujarat batter usually opens but can bat in other positions as well. He averages 45.52 in 100 first class matches since his debut in 2008. Mayank Agarwal is the obvious candidate to open with KL Rahul. The good news for India is that Agarwal did get some of his confidence back after his ton against New Zealand in Mumbai. 

Rohit Sharma is expected to be back to lead the side in the ODI series against South Africa. There are reports which say that Virat Kohli will once again make himself unavailable for the One days. KL Rahul is expected to lead the side if Rohit doesn't recover in time for the ODIs.