IND vs SA 1st Test / South Africa captain Bavuma won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test- See Playing 11

The first match of the Test series between India and South Africa is being played at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata. South Africa won the toss and elected to bat. Kagiso Rabada is not playing in this match. Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel have returned to the Indian team. Wicketkeepers Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel could be part of the playing XI together for the first time. South Africa has not lost a single Test under Temba Bavuma's captaincy. The team has won nine out of ten Tests, with one match drawn. The African team also won the World Test Championship title by defeating Australia in June this year. Ahead of the two-Test series, Kolkata Police have increased security in and around the stadium following the Delhi bombings.

South Africa won the toss

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bat first. He said the pitch looked dry and batting would be easy. Kagiso Rabada is not playing in this match. Corbin Bosch has been included in the playing XI in his place. India has two changes to the playing XI. Rishabh Pant has been included in place of Nitish Reddy. Axar Patel has also been included in the team. This means Team India is playing with four spinners, three of whom are all-rounders. Sai Sudarshan is not playing this match. Sundar is in third place.

Playing XI of both teams

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah.

Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Tony de Giorgi, Temba Bavuma (captain), Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wicketkeeper), Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Corbin Bosch, Senuran Muthusamy.

Test cricket returns to Eden Gardens after six years

The first match of the two-match Test series between India and South Africa will be played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata from Friday. After defeating Australia in the T20 series, Team India has returned to the red-ball format. Test cricket is returning to Eden Gardens after six years. Under the leadership of captain Shubman Gill, India will look to further strengthen its home performance, while world Test champions South Africa will look to repeat history.