India vs South Africa 2021-22, Cape Town Test: Kohli and co win toss and opt to bat; Umesh replaces Siraj

India and South Africa are locking horns in the final Test in Cape Town from Tuesday. Virat Kohli has won the toss and opted to bat. India is chasing its first-ever Test series win in the country.

It is the final encounter between India and South Africa, as the two lock horns in the final Test of the Freedom Series 2021-22 at the Newlands Stadium in Cape Town from Tuesday. Indian skipper Virat Kohli won his second toss of the series and has opted to bat first. India is chasing its historic first-ever Test series win in the country.

Speaking after the toss, Kohli said that the overcast conditions played a factor in the decision to bat, while the track gives away runs. He made a couple of changes, bringing himself for all-rounder Hanuma Vihari. At the same time, pacer Mohammed Siraj misses out due to a hamstring niggle and has been replaced by fellow pacer Umesh Yadav.

Explaining his decision to bring in Yadav, Kohli lauded his performances in the past few Tests, while he affirmed that it was a tough call between Yadav and seamer Ishant Sharma. He praised the Proteas for pulling off a fine chase in the second Test at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. Besides, he also expressed his excitement for playing at the beautiful venue.

Meanwhile, Protea skipper Dean Elgar stated, "Ideally, you want to bat first on this surface and given the overhead conditions, it might not be a bad idea to bowl first. The cricket we have been playing the last few months has been exceptional, given the number of players we lost. One good thing about having younger guys come in is that they come with a fresh, new mindset which is quite warming for us and then me who has this old school mentality which has been a balancing act for us, and we try to implement that with what we have in the change room. We are unchanged."

Playing XI
IND: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav.
SA: Dean Elgar(c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Duanne Olivier and Lungi Ngidi.