South Africa decided to bat first in Elgar’s farewell test, Jadeja, Mukesh included in Indian team

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Cape Town. South Africa captain Dean Elgar won the toss and elected to bat first in the second and final Test of the series against India in his farewell Test match at the Newlands Cricket Ground here on Wednesday.

India have made two changes to the playing XI they fielded in the first Test, where they lost by an innings and 32 runs inside three days at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. Left-arm spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will replace experienced off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, while fast bowler Mukesh Kumar will replace seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur.

Jadeja missed the first Test due to upper back spasms and his return gives India more batting depth, along with left-arm spin bowling and right-arm fast bowling. To level the series, India needs to win the Cape Town Test.

Captain Rohit Sharma said that if he had won the toss, he would have batted first. “Looks like a good pitch. We understand the challenge of batting first on that pitch, but still, there will be a lot in the pitch for the seamers, so hopefully we will take advantage of that.

“It is important to forget what happened in the past. We understand the importance of getting runs on the board and taking 20 wickets. “It didn’t happen in the first game but we are excited about what we can achieve here.”

In Elgar’s last Test match, South Africa have handed batsman Tristan Stubbs a debut as Temba Bavuma has been ruled out with a left hamstring injury. The hosts have also included pace bowler Lungi Ngidi and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj in place of injured fast bowlers Gerald Coetzee and Keegan Pietersen respectively.

Maharaj is also playing his 50th Test match for South Africa. Elgar said, “The pitch looks interesting. We are in a very good position. You can’t win a two-match series if you don’t win the first match – we have overcome that hurdle. The scoreboard starts from zero, we all know that it will be important to get a good start against this Indian team. ,

playing eleven

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Mukesh Kumar.

South Africa: Dean Elgar (captain), Aiden Markram, Tony De Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Johnson, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Berger, Lungi Ngidi.

–IANS

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