India Will face South Africa in the first match of the two-match Test series. This article provides details about the India vs South Africa playing 11 for the first match of the series.
India’s playing XI vs South Africa – 1st Test, South Africa tour of India 2025:
Openers: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul
The host team would like to maintain the winning streak achieved in the T20 series against Australia in the first Test match against South Africa at home.
The selectors have decided to stick with the same core, including India vice-captain Rishabh Pant, who was against the West Indies in the previous assignment in this format of the game.
Pant, who suffered an injury in a Test match on the England tour, will be seen in action after getting some game time with the two multi-day matches against India, and will be ready to go.
As far as the batting lineup is concerned, Pant’s inclusion will make it interesting for the captain and the management, due to the form of Dhruv Jurel.
Jurel has been in excellent form since the home series against West Indies and it will be difficult to leave him out of the playing eleven.
Furthermore, the rest of the Indian batting line-up is expected to open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul.
The pair were in excellent form in the series against the West Indies, which is evident from the fact that both the batsmen gave a good start to the team and also scored individual centuries.
The pair would like to take it forward by repeating the same performance in the first Test against South Africa.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel.
Amid the debate over Dhruv Jurel’s inclusion in the playing eleven, there is no scope for discussion on who should be India’s number three, four and five batsmen for the upcoming match.
There is every possibility that Sai Sudarshan will bat at number three, followed by Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant.
All three batsmen will be aiming to make significant contributions while batting at their respective positions, especially Sai, who will be under a bit of pressure as he has not been consistent on some occasions so far.
Apart from the above mentioned batsmen, it has been made clear by the team management that Dhruv Jurel will play only as a batsman and Nitish Kumar Reddy will have to wait.
Bowlers: Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
If we talk about the bowling combination, it is expected to play 2 fast bowlers and 3 spinners, with the surface being suited for spin bowling as well as pace.
When it comes to spinners, the team management can go with the left-arm spin of Ravindra Jadeja and the off-spin of Washington Sundar. There is every possibility that Kuldeep Yadav will be the third spin bowling option for the hosts. He was sent midway from Australia to prepare for the South Africa Test.
The presence of two spinners will also add depth to the batting lineup, which will expand to number nine with Akash Deep coming in to bat at that particular position.
