South Africa win toss, elect to field against India, Rohit Sharma departs early

Centurion: South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to field against India in the first Test here on Tuesday. Captain Rohit Sharma departs early after scoring 5 runs in 14 balls.

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.