South Africa captain Dean Elgar won the all-important toss and elected to bat in the second Test match against India at the Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town on December 3. The Proteas made three changes to their playing XI with Tristan Stubbs, Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj getting play time. India made two changes with Ravindra Jadeja and Mukesh Kumar replacing Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur in the playing XI.
India playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar
South Africa playing XI: Dean Elgar(c), Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi
India will be looking to bounce back against South Africa in Cape Town following a heavy defeat in the first match of the series. South Africa hammered India by an innings and 32 runs in the first Test at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. With this win, they slashed India's hopes of conquering their final frontier in Test cricket, having never won a bi-lateral Test series in South Africa.
However, Rohit Sharma still has a chance to become just the second India captain, after MS Dhoni, to avoid a Test series defeat in South Africa. India has played eight Test series in South Africa since 1992, losing seven and drawing one.
India's batting as well as the bowling unit failed to produce the goods in Centurion, being bowled out for 245 and 131 runs as South Africa posted 408 runs on the back of Dean Elgar's brilliant 185. The number 1 ranked Test side will be hoping for a better performance in the second Test.
Meanwhile, Rohit himself would be looking to improve his Test record in South Africa, having scored just 128 runs in 10 innings at an average of 12.80 and a top-score of 47.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
IND vs SA: A look at India vs South Africa head-to-head record in Cape Town in Tests
IND vs SA: Virat Kohli only Indian captain with embarrassing record in Test matches in Cape Town; check here
