South Africa vs India, 1st Test: Toss & Playing Updates: Kohli elects to bat; Jansen debuts for SA

Team India have gone with the combination of six batsmen and five bowlers in the opening game at Centurion. The tourists have shown faith in underfire Ajinkya Rahane and included the right-handed batsman in the playing eleven in the big match.

South Africa, meanwhile, have handed debut cap to tall left-arm quick Marco Jansen in the big match.

After winning the toss, Kohli said: “We will bat first. Runs on the board playing away home have been our strength. The pitch tends to quicken up here on Day 2-3. Our success away from home started from the series we played here last time. A very challenging place to play. South African unit is always strong and they know the conditions. The prep has been wonderful. Quite lucky to get the centre-wicket for practice. We are playing four bowlers and an all-rounder; Siraj, Shami, Bumrah, Ashwin and Thakur is the all-rounder.”

Talking about his team’s combination and strategy, the Protea skipper Dean Elgar said, “Nice and relaxed and looking forward to what is going to be a brilliant Test series. We had a good week’s camp in Johannesburg. We are prepared as best as we could. There’s a debutant in Marco Jansen. The tall left-arm bowler bowled well against India A. Mulder as an all-rounder. Kesh is our spinner. KG, Lungi and Marco are the pacers.”

Playing XIs:

South Africa: Dean Elgar(c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock(w), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.

India: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.