South Africa win toss, decide to bat in Nagpur Test

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NAGPUR - South Africa won the toss and decided to bat in the first of the two-Test cricket series against India at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here Saturday.

India were forced to make four changes, three of these owing to injuries, from the side that played in the second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka a fortnight ago.

Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman and Yuvraj Singh are out with injuries while leg-spinner Amit Mishra replaced left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

Rohit Sharma was to replace Laxman, but the Mumbai batsman hurt his ankle while warming up this morning and that paved the way for Bengal’s wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha to make his Test debut.

Also, making debut for India is Tamil Nadu’s Subramaniam Badrinath, who has been on the fringes for quite some years. Karnataka’s Murali Vijay, who has done well whenever he got a chance, will bat at number three.

South Africa made one change from the side that played the fourth and last Test against England at Johannesburg last month, bringing in left-arm spinner Paul Harris for all-rounder Ryan McLaren.

The teams:

India: M.S. Dhoni (captain & wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, M. Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, S. Badrinath, Wriddhiman Saha, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Ashwell Prince, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, A.B. de Villiers, J.P. Duminy, Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper), Dale Steyn, Paul Harris, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell.

Umpires: Ian Gould (England) and Steve Davis (Australia). Third umpire: Shahvir Tarapore (India). Match referee: Andy Pycroft (Zimbabwe).