IND vs SA 1st Test with a new combination in the Indian ring .. Shreyas out

India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against South Africa at Centurion on Sunday. As vice-captain KL Rahul said two days ago, Virat Kohli selected India’s final squad with a combination of five bowlers and five batsmen. With that .. Shardul Thakur joined the team .. Telugu cricketer Hanuma Vihari along with Shreyas Iyer who scored a century and a half century in the recent Test series against New Zealand also had to be restricted to the reserve bench. On the other hand, the New Zealand team also included spinner Keshav Maharaj in the final squad. Centurion pitch shows signs of adapting to pace from 2-3 days.

The Test series on South African soil has remained a dream for Team India for the past three decades. The Indian team has toured the country eight times so far and has failed to win the Test series at least once. The draw in 2011 was the only outstanding performance for India so far. However, Indian cricketers are confident that they will definitely win the series there this time.

India have not won at least one Test at Centurion so far. Team India lost by an innings in the Test played there in 2010. In 2018, they also lost by 135 runs. Looking at the head-to-head records, India do not have a better record against South Africa. India, who have played 20 Tests on safari soil so far, have won one-third and lost 10 matches. The remaining seven were drawn.

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

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