Team India is set to take on South Africa in the third and final Test of the three-match series in Cape Town. On Tuesday, Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat against Dean Elgar & Co. To everyone’s surprise, this was the third consecutive toss won by the visitors on this tour.
After losing the previous match by 7 wickets, the visitors would look to bounce back and defeat the Proteas to not only secure their first win at Newlands but also win the first Test series at Rainbow Nation. India made some changes in the playing XI that they lost in Johannesburg.
Skipper Virat Kohli, who was ruled out of the last game due to an upper back spasm, has returned to the mix and replaced Hanuma Vihari. Fast bowler Umesh Yadav has come in place of Mohammad Siraj, who is suffering from a hamstring injury.
“You can’t control what’s in over your head. Runs have always worked well at this venue. I’m fit and fine. I come for Vihari. Siraj misses with a swallow and Umesh goes for him. Umesh has been very powerful with the ball lately, very useful on the field and with the bat too. It was a tough decision to choose between the two (Ishant and Umesh).
“Even when we play overseas we are expected to win every Test and the fourth innings chase from South Africa was special for them. It is a beautiful stadium and we are very excited,” Kohli said at the toss.
South Africa, on the other hand, have made no change in the winning combination and are going into the field with an unchanged playing XI.
“Ideally you want to bat first on this surface and it may not be a bad idea to bowl first considering the top conditions. The cricket we have been playing for the past few months has been very special considering the number of players we have lost. One of the cool things about young people coming in is that they come in with a fresh, new mindset which is pretty hot for us and then I have this old school mentality which has been a balancing act for us and obviously that We try to implement what we have in the changing rooms. We are unchanged,” said Elgar at the toss.
Here are the playing XI of both the teams:
India: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav.
South Africa: Dean Elgar (c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Pietersen, Rassi van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Veren (wk), Marco Jensen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Duane Olivier, Lungi Ngidi.
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