The South African captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and elect to bat first in this second Test match of Freedom Series at SuperSport Park, Centurion.
Faf du Plessis: We are going to bat first again. The previous one was touch and go but all the stats are in favour of the team batting first out here. The cracks could open up over the next few days and it coule get difficult. There are a few things in the first Test we think we can improve upon. Lungi Ngidi is making his debut on his homeground.
South Africa (Playing XI): Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungisani Ngidi, Morne Morkel
Virat Kohli: It is a no brainer. We would’ve wanted to bat first as well. The pitch looks very different from what it looked a couple of days ago, all the grass has been taken off. It is more of a situation that’s tricky out here, hopefully the bowlers will step up. Saha has a hammy niggle and we do not want to take a chance with him. KL Rahul comes in for Dhawan and Ishant comes in for Bhuvi to get some extra bounce.
India (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma