Brackenfell Cricket Club and Cape Cobras left-arm spinner George Linde welcomed a debut on day one of the Proteas’ third and final Test against India in Ranchi.
Debutant wicketkeeper-batsman Heinrich Klaasen, spinner Dane Piedt, batsman Zubayr Hamza and fast bowler Lungi Ngidi were also named in the South African XI.
Aiden Markram and Keshav Maharaj were sidelined by injury, while middle-order batsman Theunis de Bruyn, seamer Vernon Philander and all-rounder Senuran Muthusamy were dropped.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock will open the batting in the absence of Markram, who fractured a wrist ‘after lashing out at a solid object’.
India captain Virat Kohli won the the toss and opted to bat first. Vice-captain Temba Bavuma, rather than captain Faf du Plessis, represented the Proteas at the toss. Du Plessis hasn’t won a toss in a Test away from home for six consecutive attempts.
The hosts replaced fast bowler Ishant Sharma with debutant left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem.
The home side boast an unassailable two-nil series lead after comfortable victories in the first Test in and the second in Visakhapatnam and Pune.
India: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shahbaz Nadeem, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Quinton de Kock, Zubayr Hamza, Faf du Plessis (captain), Temba Bavuma, Heinrich Klaasen (wicketkeeper), George Linde, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi.
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