India will face South Africa in the first of two matches of the Test series. This article provides details of India’s Game 11 against South Africa for the first match of the series.
India Plays XI vs South Africa – 1st Test, South Africa Tour of India 2025:
Openers: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul
The hosts would like to continue the winning momentum they gained from a T20I series victory against Australia in the first Test against South Africa at home.
The selectors have decided to stick to the same core that faced West Indies last time out in this format of the game, with the inclusion of Indian vice-captain Rishabh Pant.
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Pant, who was injured in a Test match during the England tour, will be seen in action after getting some playing time under his belt with two multi-day matches against India, and will be gearing up to go.
Pant’s inclusion will make him interesting to the captain and management when it comes to the batting line-up, the reason being Dhruv Jurel’s form.
Jurel has been in magnificent form since the home series against the West Indies, and it would be difficult to leave him out of the playing XI.
Apart from that, the rest of the Indian batting order is expected to feature some usual names, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul opening the innings.
The duo were in great form in the series against the Windies, as evidenced by the fact that both batters scored individual hundreds, while getting the team off to a good start.
Both men would like to build on this by replicating the same performance in the first Test against South Africa.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel
Amid the debate over Dhruv Jurel’s inclusion in the playing XI, there is no room to discuss who India’s batting numbers three, four and five should be for the upcoming match.
Sai Sudharshan, in all likelihood, will be in the third row, followed by Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant.
All three batters would look to make a significant contribution while batting at their respective positions, especially Sai, who would be under a bit of pressure given that he has not been able to perform consistently in the handful of opportunities so far.
Apart from the above-mentioned batters, the team management has made it clear that Dhruv Jurel will play only as a batter and Nitish Kumar Reddy will have to wait.
Bowlers: Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
If we talk about the bowling combination, 2 fast bowlers and 3 spinners are expected to bowl, with the surface being a bit more conducive to spin bowling than pace bowling.
As for the spinners, the team management might go for Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm spin and Washington Sundar’s left-arm spin. Kuldeep Yadav will in all likelihood be the third spin bowling option for the hosts. He was sent halfway from Australia to prepare for the South Africa Tests.
The presence of the two spinners will also add depth to the batting line-up, which will extend up to number nine with Akash Deep coming to bat at that particular position.
