Indian's captain Virat Kohli won the toss in the first Test against South Africa and chose to bat on an overcast morning in Centurion on Sunday.
Both teams head into the match, with five bowlers comprising, three front-line seamers, a seam bowling all-rounder and a spinner. Marco Jansen, the 21-year-old left-arm seamer, will make his debut. Jansen is a somewhat surprising choice ahead of the in-form Duanne Olivier.
However the Eastern Cape, bowler, who was drafted by the Mumbai Indians in the IPL last year, and has been in the SA squad in the last few months, has had a solid start to the South Africa domestic season. He also picked up six wickets for the South Africa A side in the series against India A.
From a distance the pitch looked to have a lot of grass and while that may aid seam bowling, with overhead conditions also assisting swing, it is likely to be slow on the first day.
Rain has been forecast for the afternoon.
No spectators are allowed into the venue, but a few hospitality suites have been opened for each day of the match.
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The Proteas will be wearing black armbands in honour of the late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu who passed away at the age of 90 on Sunday.
South Africa: Dean Elgar (capt), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi
India: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
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