Rohit Sharma's 'home' form preferred over Ajinkya Rahane's 'overseas' record, confirms Virat Kohli

File photo of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma (Image: Twitter)

Cape Town: India captain Virat Kohli has defended the selection of Rohit Sharma in the first Test against South Africa, saying he was picked ahead of Ajinkya Rahane on current form.

India lost the first Test by 72 runs with batting letting them down in both the innings.

"Well, we decided to go on current form. Rohit has scored runs in the last three Test matches that he has played, and he was batting well, even in the series against Sri Lanka," said Kohli in the post-match media conference.

"These things can always be looked at in hindsight - thinking what if or what if not. But we decided to go with this combination and current form was definitely the criterion," added Kohli.

Rahane, who has not been amongst the runs of late, had a successful tour of South Africa four years ago. With 209 runs, he was third highest run-getter in the series behind Kohli (272 runs) and Cheteshwar Pujara (280).