Overview:
The team management decided to include four tweakers in the playing group to put the Proteas under pressure.
India have dropped Sai Sudharsan for the first Test against South Africa at Eden Gardens. He scored 87 and 39 in his previous two innings of the second Test against the West Indies. Although captain Shubman Gill didn’t give any reason behind the No.3 batter’s exclusion, the decision was taken to add four spinners in the Playing XI.
The team management decided to include four tweakers in the playing group to put the Proteas under pressure. Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel have been given the task of taking wickets against the reigning World Test Champions.
The pitch in Kolkata is expected to help the spinners from the start of the contest, but the cricket experts feel skipper Shubman and head coach Gautam Gambhir have made a mistake as one of the slow bowlers would end up bowling fewer overs.
Meanwhile, Sudhrasan was being prepared for the No.3 position, as India have failed to find a suitable replacement for Cheteshwar Pujara. When the southpaw was showing his class, he was benched.
In 5 Tests, he has amassed 273 runs at an average of 30.31. The 24-year-old has hit two fifties so far in red-ball cricket.
Temba Bavuma won the toss and decided to bat first in the series opener.
India defeated the West Indies 2-0 in the last Test assignment, while South Africa managed to draw the series 1-1 in Pakistan. The host nation is third in the WTC standings.
Playing XIs
India XI: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Washington Sundar, 4 Shubman Gill (capt), 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dhruv Jurel, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj
South Africa XI: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Wiaan Mulder, 4 Temba Bavuma (capt), 5 Tony de Zorzi, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Corbin Bosch, 10 Simon Harmer, 11 Keshav Maharaj