By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa captain, Dean Elgar, won the toss and chose to bat first in the second and final test against India at Newlands in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The home side have given a debut to batsman Tristan Stubbs in place of the injured Temba Bavuma while the test match is the 50th for spinner Keshav Maharaj. Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi return to the starting XI in place of Gerald Coetzee and Batsman Keegan Petersen has been omitted.
South Africa led the two-test series 1-0 after prevailing by an innings and 32-runs in the first test at Centurion.
India have included spinning allrounder Ravindra Jadeja in place R.Ashwin and brought in seamer Mukesh Kumar.
Meanwhile Elgar said he was “sad” South Africa would be sending a weakened team to play two Test matches in New Zealand in March.
“The situation we’ve been put in is not ideal,” Elgar said on Tuesday.
Only two of the players who won the first Test by an innings last week will be travelling to New Zealand -– the result of a decision by Cricket South Africa to prioritise the SA20 franchise competition.
“Irrespective of what has happened behind the scenes there is still a lot of hunger (for Test cricket) from the guys who are playing,” he said.
Elgar said the positive from the situation was that it was an opportunity “for the guys going to New Zealand to put in performances and to eventually become regular members of the squad.”
But he quickly said the decision to put the Twenty20 league ahead of Tests had nothing to do with the players.
“What happens behind the scenes is totally out of our control. It’s out of our hands, the coaches’ hands, the team management’s hands,” said the 36-year-old.
“It’s sad that it’s gone in that direction. As players we don’t have control over that, we have to focus on what we can focus on.”
Elgar’s Indian counterpart Rohit Sharma said for him Test cricket was the ultimate format of the game.
“Obviously for me, Test cricket is the ultimate challenge,” he said at his eve of match press conference.
“You would want to see the best players playing in that format.
“I don’t know what the discussions are in Cricket South Africa but from my perspective I think that the priority and a lot of thought should be given to Test cricket.
South Africa: Dean Elgar (captain), Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar.