India win toss, opt to bat in Johannesburg Test; Ajinkya Rahane, Bhuvi return

India won the toss and elected to bat in the third Test at the Wanderers stadium here on Wednesday. Down 2-0 in the series, India are looking to win here and avoid an unprecedented whitewash in South Africa. The good thing going for India is that they have never lost at the Wanderers and they will definitely use that as a motivation in this Test. (IND v SA, 3rd Test, Day 1 UPDATES | SCORECARD)

India made two changes to the side that played in Centurion. They have dropped Ravichandran Ashwin for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, thereby going in with an all-pace attack. India have also finally given a start to vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane who had missed out on the first two Tests.

The decisions were definitely influenced by the grass covering on the pitch. India captain Virat Kohli said during toss that the surface was hard and so they wanted to put runs on the board first. “We’ve played very good cricket here, last time around was a very exciting Test. We’re up against a side who are very strong in their home conditions. But we are looking to correct mistakes made in the first two games,” he said.

Kohli’s decision to bowl comes as a bold one as South Africa boast a five-man seam attack too that could prove very strong on this type of pitch. They have dropped spinner Keshav Maharaj and included all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo for this Test.

Teams:

India: M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Parthiv Patel (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma.

South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Andile Phehlukwayo, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Lungi Ngidi.