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Ravindra Jadeja Dropped, Prasidh Krishna Debuts As India Bat First In Boxing Day Test Match

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The much-awaited South Africa-India Boxing Day Test match is finally here and South Africa, the home team have won the toss and elected to bowl first in overcast conditions. South Africa have two debutants while India have one in the form of Prasidh Krishna.

Ravindra Jadeja is also not playing due to a neck spasm and Ravichandran Ashwin is all set to play an overseas Test after a long time. For South Africa, David Bedingham and  Nandre Burger are making debut and it would be an interesting contest between two quality units.

Here are playing XIs of both the sides -

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

South Africa Playing XI : 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


Debutants today:

South Africa: Nandre Burger and David Bedingham

India: Prasidh Krishna

Here is what two captains said -

Temba Bavuma (South Africa Captain): "We are going to bowl first. Wicket has been covered for the last two days. There will be some moisture and we will look to take advantage of it.Guys have gone through their paces. Lungi was the only one who wasn't available for selection but he has been fit. Everyone is available.Two debutants for us. Nandre Burger and Bedingham will be playing their first Test today, with Bedingham playing in the middle order.

We always look forward to playing against India. It's going to be a big battle. For us as a team, we know what we have to do. Also, Dean Elgar's last series and we will look to give him a perfect send off.The preps has been good and everyone is excited to go."

Rohit Sharma (India Captain): "Honestly, I was not sure about what to do on winning the toss. At times like these, it's good to lose the toss. Yeah, absolutely, we are quite aware of the conditions here. We need to put runs on the board, and the bowlers will do the job for us. We do understand the challenge of batting first with the overhead conditions and the grass, but the guys are up for the challenge.

Every time we come here, we come with high hopes. We've come close in the last two tours. You know, I was not here, but the boys have done well in the limited-overs series.

We are pretty confident with our squad and the make-up of our squad. We have got four seamers and a spinner. Ravi Ashwin is playing in place of Jadeja. Jaddu had a back spasm, so Ashwin comes in, and he is a quality spinner to have in the side. Prasidh Krishna is debuting. Shardul, Siraj, and Bumrah are the other seamers.