India vs South Africa 1st Test playing XI tip off: Rohit-Kohli mark return post World Cup, KL Rahul to keep wickets, Bumrah to lead pace attack | Cricket News

Having levelled the T20I series and triumphed in the ODIs, India will be looking to create hory claiming their first-ever Test series win in South Africa. The previous eight series in the longest format that India have contested on these shores have seen the hosts triumph seven times while the 1-1 drawn series in 2010 has been the visitors’ best outing.The last time India played a Test series in South Africa, they’d started with a win in Centurion but went on to loss in Johannesburg and Newlands, which was also the final international match India played under the captainship of Virat Kohli. Under Rohit Sharma’s tenure as the skipper in the longest format, the upcoming two Tests will be a first-full SENA series for the two time World Test Championship finals.
With the SuperSport Park in Centurion to host the Boxing Day Test starting Tuesday, here are the tweaks the visitors can make to their playing XI following the white-ball series.

Preps in full swing for the Boxing Day Test 🙌#TeamIndia sharpen their fielding skills ahead of the first #SAvIND Test tomorrow in Centurion 👌👌 pic.twitter.com/SftEN2kDED
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 25, 2023
Rohit-Kohli back in the fray, Gill at three
It’s been a month and six days since the ODI World Cup final saw India come second best against the Aussies at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. A heartbreaking night for the hosts, who had until then won all 10 games in the competition. It was also the last we saw of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in Indian colors, and a lot of uncertainty has followed around their future in the white-ball formats with a T20 World Cup year ahead.
But the two batting juggernauts are without doubt the first two names in the starting XI for the upcoming Test series, with Rohit back to captaining the side in the longest format and being one of the two openers. Kohli’s position at number four looks unlikely to be tweaked as well.
However, in the last Test series that India played (against West Indies), Shubman Gill had moved to number three in the absence of Cheteshwar Pujara while Yashasvi Jaiswal had emerged as an explosive opener. With Jaiswal having proved his mettle, scoring 266 off his three Test innings so far, and provided an extra left-handed batting option, India might as well continue with that batting order with no Pujara available for the South Africa series as well.
KL Rahul to keep wickets
A day ahead of the Test, captain Rohit Sharma was all praises for KL Rahul, who was India’s man behind the stumps at the ODI World Cup and had hinted before the ODIs that he wished to keep that spot for the Tests as well. Rohit on Monday, made it more evident, “The way he kept in the World Cup was very pleasing. He was keen to keep in Tests. Gives us option of a solid bat in the middle-order. He bats well, understands the game during different stages of the game. Not sure how long he wants to keep,” the Indian skipper said.

With Ishan Kishan having left South Africa ahead of the Tests and KS Bharat’s dismal record with the bat off his few outings for India so far, Rohit Sharma and Co are likely to rely upon Rahul as their main keeper and a middle order batter alongside Shreyas Iyer to strengthen their batting.
Bumrah to lead pace attack
The Centurion Test will also mark the first instance of Jasprit Bumrah steaming in to bowl with the red cherry for India since the Edgbaston Test against England in July 2022. The pace spearhead had been out of action for over a year until his comeback for the team in August this year, following which he’s only featured in the white-ball format.
While Mohammed Siraj is also a sure shot starter, the absence of Mohammed Shami has left a big void to be filled. One that is settled to be occupied Prasidh Krishna over Mukesh Kumar. While Mukesh has already made his debut for India in whites, Prasidh’s added stature lends him the advantage of extracting extra bounce off the pitch, more margin for error with his length and the best chance of juicing life from the surface.

Predicted playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma (C), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Tony de Zorzi, Kyle Verreynne (WK), Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee, Nandre Burger.