India vs SA: Kohli Wins Toss & Bats First; Shardul & Rahane Included in XI

India have not included Shreyas Iyer in the playing XI and Ajinkya Rahane holds his spot.

Virat Kohli won the toss at the Boxing Day Test

Image: BCCI

India captain Virat Kohli has won the toss at Centurion and has opted to bat first against South Africa in the Boxing Day Test. Ajinkya Rahane holds his spot while Shreyas Iyer is left out and Shardul Thakur takes up the all-rounder's spot. Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are the other pacers with R Ashwin as the spinner.

Hanuma Vihari and Ishant Sharma also miss out on the Boxing Day Test.

For South Africa, Marco Jansen, who was part of the Mumbai Indians side in the IPL, is making his Test debut. He gets the nod over Duanne Olivier for this game. Jansen is a left-arm pacer.

Among the two big injury blows that both India and South Africa have been dealt with has seen Rohit Sharma and Anrich Nortje get ruled out. Rohit, the vice-captain, has an hamstring injury while Nortje's long term injury issues have kept him away.

India will see KL Rahul be the deputy for Virat Kohli in the Test series, which is also the first overseas assignment for Rahul Dravid since he took over as head coach from Ravi Shastri in November after the 2021 T20 World Cup.

“We will bat first. Runs on the board playing away home has 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. Very challenging place to play. South African unit always strong and they know the conditions. The prep has been wonderful. Quite lucky to get the centre-wicket practice. Siraj, Shami, Bumrah, Ashwin and Thakur is the all-rounder,” Kohli said at the toss.

“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. Debutant in Marco Jansen. Tall left-arm bowler. Mulder as all-rounder. Kesh is our spinner. KG, Lungi and Marco are the pacers,” Dean Elgar said at the toss.

Teams:

South Africa (Playing XI): 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 (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