IND Playing XI 1st Test – IND vs SA Live: Former India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane got another lifeline after he was given the nod to play ahead of Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer in the Boxing Day Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion. Notably, Rahane’s place in the eleven was the talk of the town in the build-up to the Test. Rahane, who will be playing in his 80th Test now, is averaging less the 20 in 2021. Follow IND vs SA Live on InsideSport.IN.
IND Playing XI vs SA: Ajinkya Rahane gets to play ahead of Hanuma Vihari, Shreyas Iyer; Ishant Sharma dropped
Notably, Hanuma Vihari was not included in India’s homes Test series against New Zealand and was sent with India A team to South Africa. The right-hander, who last played for India in the historic SCG Test against Australia in January this year, hit three consecutive fifties on the tour.
Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, slammed a hundred in his debut Test match in Kanpur against New Zealand and was being considered the second favourite after Vihari to take Rahane’s place in the Boxing Day Test.
Further, as expected Ishant Sharma, India’s senior most pacer who has gone wicketless in his last two Test matches, was dropped as Mohammed Siraj got a nod ahead of him. Siraj will be joined by Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur. Ravichandran Ashwin is the only specialist spinner in the eleven.
India Playing XI vs SA in 1st Test:
- KL Rahul
- Mayank Agarwal
- Cheteshwar Pujara
- Virat Kohli
- Ajinkya Rahane
- Rishabh Pant (wk)
- R Ashwin
- Shardul Thakur
- Jaspri Bumrah
- Mohammed Siraj
- Mohammed Shami
India Playing XI vs SA in 1st Test:
- Rahane has got the nod to play ahead of Iyer and Vihari
- Siraj is playing ahead of Ishant Sharma
- Rishabh Pant replaced Wriddhiman Saha who was the wicketkeeper in New Zealand series
- Ashwin is the only specialist spinner in absence of injured Ravindra Jadeja
- KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal will open in absence of injured Rohit Sharma
India have won the toss and elected to bat first in the first match of the 3-Test series.
“Runs on the board and playing away from home…The wicket has a lot of grass on it and the Centurion pitch tends to get faster from day two onwards,” Virat Kohli said on his decision to bat first.
“It’s very challenging and our success away from home kinda started from here and we got a lot of confidence we can do this often. This is a very strong SA unit and we need to be at our absolute best. The preparation has been wonderful at the centre nets. I can only tell you the combination we have: three seamers, Shardul and Ashwin,” he added.
