Captain Virat Kohli is back in India’s team for the decisive final cricket test against South Africa in Cape Town.
Kohli won the toss Tuesday and chose to bat first as the series, which is 1-1, goes to a winner-take-all finale at Newlands.
India made two changes, with Kohli back in after an upper back spasm ruled him out of the second test in Johannesburg on the morning the game started. Hanuma Vihari, who replaced Kohli in Johannesburg, makes way for the captain’s return.
India also called in seamer Umesh Yadav to replace Mohammed Siraj, who has an injury.
South Africa selected an unchanged team after putting itself back in contention in the series with victory in the second test.
India, the top-ranked team in the world, has never won a test series in South Africa and is seeking that piece of history on its eighth test tour to the country.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli’s luck with coin toss has changed. After a very long time, he is calling it right.
India have now won all three tosses during the series in South Africa and the fans flooded social media with hilarious memes.
Lineups:
South Africa: Dean Elgar (captain), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Duanne Olivier, Lungi Ngidi.
India: K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav.