Krishna, who has been with the team over the last few years, will finally make his Test debut in the first South Africa Test. Krishna replaced Shami in the squad after the latter failed to recover from an injury, and will now be playing his first game in the longer format. Krishna has played 12 first-class games, picking up 54 wickets at an average of 17.29 with three five-fors.

The other big news from the toss, delayed by 45 minutes due to wet patches on the outfield, was the inclusion of Ashwin in the playing XI over left-hander Jadeja, who has been ruled out due to neck spasms he suffered on the morning of the game.

India have picked four seamers in their side, with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj accompanying all-rounder Shardul Thakur and Krishna.

The toss was won by South Africa, with skipper Temba Bavuma choosing to bowl first. With the ground under covers over the last few days due to persistent rain, Bavuma decided to utilise the moisture that would be present.

South Africa have handed debuts to two players, Nandre Burger and David Bedingham, for the game.

South Africa is the only country where India are yet to win a Test series. Their best result was a 1-1 draw in 2010/11.

Playing XIs for SA vs IND:

South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma(c), Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne(wk), Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger.

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.