South Africa's stand-in captain Aiden Markram won the toss and opted to bowl first at JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi. Temba Bavuma has been rested for the first ODI alongside left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj.
"We'll bowl first. Spent a couple of evenings, dew at night time and it'll be slightly easier to bat at night. Different personnel, the dressing room is at a good place with a lot of energy and fun. It's an important series, the end role the 2027 WC, still a bit of time, but we're up against one of the best teams in the world. Just one spinner in Subrayen, I will bowl a bit - Temba and Maharaj have been rested, four seamers for us today," Markram said after winning the toss.
India's stand-in captain KL Rahul did not include Rishabh Pant in the side. He replaced injured Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad repsectively. This will be Gaikwad's first appearance in two years.
"We would have bowled first as well. The preparation has been good, the energy is there with a lot of players coming back, we want to enjoy ourselves in the middle. That's what the chat has been, we need to use every opportunity we get in the ODI team, this is a great chance to challenge our skills against a very good team. Three spinners and three quicks for us today," Rahul said at the coin toss.
India vs South Africa 1st ODI Playing XIs -
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna.
South Africa Playing XI: Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram (c), Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Prenelan Subrayen, Nandre Burger, Ottneil Baartman