Fast bowler Prasidh Krishna on Tuesday became the 309th cricketer to play Test Cricket for India. The right-arm quick received his debut cap from his senior Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the first day of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion.
Krishna, who has 54 First-class wickets in 12 games, comes in place of veteran pacer Mohammad Shami who couldn’t retain fitness to be named in the Test squad. The former has so far played 17 ODIs and 5 T20Is, picking up 29 and 8 wickets, respectively.
Meanwhile, India lost the toss to South Africa and will be batting under overcast conditions. Skipper Rohit Sharma said the visitors will be playing with 4 seamers – Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Krishna – and Ravichandran Ashwin being the only spinner in the line-up.
“We are quite aware of the conditions, we have been here a few times. 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,” Rohit said at the toss.
“Every time we come here, we come with high hopes. We’ve come close in the last 2 tours. We are pretty confident with our squad and the make-up of our squad. We are playing with four seamers and a spinner.
“Ashwin is playing in place of Jadeja. Jaddu had a bit of a back spasm, so Ashwin comes in and he is a quality spinner to have. Prasidh is making his debut, along with the other pacers Shardul, Siraj and Bumrah,” he added.
T20 debutants for South Africa
Home captain Temba Bavuma said the likes of Nandre Burger and David Bedingham have been handed debuts. Lungi Ngidi missed out as he is yet to be fully fit, Bavuma added.
“We’ll bowl first. The wicket has been under covers, we want to use the moisture and make early inroads. Our boys have all got into reasonably fit conditions, Lungi is the only one who’s not yet fully fit. Two debutants today – Nandre Burger and David Bedingham. We’re playing with four seamers for this one. It is always difficult to come up against India, but we are ready with our preparation,” said the South African captain.
Here are the playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma(c), Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger.
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