Toss South Africa chose to bat vs India
Temba Bavuma had no hesitation in batting first on a track that both captains expect to be good for batting on the first two days, but the team combination was the trickier situation. They resisted the temptation of playing an extra spinner just because it is India. They went in with three seamers, all three capable with the bat, and left out Senuran Muthusamy. Wiaan Mulder came back to No. 3, Corbin Bosch replaced Rabada, and Bavuma took his place back from Dewald Brevis.India might be entering an interesting new era. Experts have been talking of the batting potential of Washington Sundar. This is the Test when India might just put it to test. He was one of four spinners in the side, but that means B Sai Sudharsan, the No. 3 for the last few Tests, had to sit out. In the team sheet, Washington was at No. 3.As with Mulder and South Africa, this move for Washington allowed India to retain their bowling threat. All three of Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah retained their places. The extra spinner in the side as a result of Sai Sudharsan’s exit was Axar Patel, making it two left-arm orthodox spinners.
This was the first toss South Africa won in their last eight attempts in India. If they were to break their wretched luck, Gill’s had to continue. About his luck at the toss, Gill said it looked like the only one he will win will be at the WTC final. That’s a confident statement. India start this series at No. 3 on the WTC table with 61.9% of the points available. At 50%, defending champions South Africa are No. 5.
India: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Washington Sundar, 4 Shubman Gill (capt), 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dhruv Jurel, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj
South Africa: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Wiaan Mulder, 4 Temba Bavuma (capt), 5 Tony de Zorzi, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Corbin Bosch, 10 Simon Harmer, 11 Keshav Maharaj
