The India vs South Africa Test series is here! After July, the Indian cricket team is back in the whites for the fist time against the formidable South Africa. The Indian cricket team has never won a Test series in South Africa and captain Rohit Sharma on Monday said that their aim was to achieve something greater this time. After wet outfield forced the match to start 30 minutes late on Tuesday, South Africa bowlers Nandre Burger and Kagiso Rabada struck with wickets of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, after that Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill stitched a good stand as India reached 91/3 at Lunch after being reduced to 24/3 at one stage.
However, Virat Kohli could have been out for just 4 had Tony de Zorzi caught the former Indian cricket team captain off Nandre Burger.
Earlier, South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to field against India in the first Test here on Tuesday. The toss for the first Test of the Freedom Series for the Gandhi-Mandela Trophy was delayed due to wet patches on the outfield. The first two days of the game are under rain threat.
India have handed a Test debut to pacer Prasidh Krishna while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was unavailable for the series-opener due to back spasm, according to the Indian team management.
For the hosts South Africa, middle-order batter David Bedingham and bowling all-rounder Nandre Burger are making their Test debuts.
India are aiming for their maiden Test series win in South Africa in 31 years.
Teams: India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma(c), Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada and Nandre Burger.