IND v SA: South Africa win toss, opt to bowl first

Centurion, Dec 26 (IANS) South Africa sipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bowl first against India in the Boxing Day Test of the two-match Test series, here at SuperSport Park.

Pacer Prasidh Krishna makes his Test debut for India whereas Nandre Burger and David Bedingham make their debut for South Africa.

After winning the toss Temba Bavuma said, “We'll bowl first. Wicket has been under covers, we want to use the moisture and make early inroads. Our boys have all got into reasonably fit conditions, Lungi is the only one who's not yet fully fit. Two debutants today - Nandre Burger and David Bedingham. We're playing with four seamers for this one. It is always difficult to come up against India, but we are ready with our preparation.”

On the other hand Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said who “wasn’t too sure”. “We are quite aware of the conditions, we have been here a few times. We need to put runs on the board and the bowlers will do the job for us. We do understand the challenge of batting first with the overhead conditions and the grass, but the guys are up for the challenge. Everytime we come here, we come with high hopes. We've come close in the last 2 tours.”

“We are pretty confident with our squad and the make-up of our squad. We are playing with four seamers and a spinner. Ashwin is playing in place of Jadeja. Jaddu had a bit of a back spasm, so Ashwin comes in and he is a quality spinner to have. Prasidh is making his debut, along with the other pacers Shardul, Siraj and Bumrah,” he added.

Playing XIs:

South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma(c), Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna