South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bat against India in the opening Test at the Edens Garden here on Friday.

"I think the only toss that I’m going to win is hopefully in the WTC finals. Yeah. Looks like a good surface. Hopefully, we’ll get some movement early, hopefully we’re able to extract that. This Test bunch is very hungry and is always determined to perform every time we come out," said Shubman Gill after losing yet another toss.

"These two test matches for us are very crucial and we’re as hungry as ever. It’s going to be a good surface for the first day or a couple of days. And then, hopefully, we’ll get some turn as the game goes on. Rishabh comes back in place of Reddy since we last played. And Axar is also back in the side," Gill added.

A fit-again Rishabh Pant, who had suffered an injury in England in July, replaced all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, while Axar Patel was back in side in place of Sai Sudharsan in the playing XI as India opted to go with four spinners.

For South Africa, premier pacer Kagiso Rabada missed out due to a rib injury with Corbin Bosch replacing him.

Temba Bavuma has spoken after winning the toss and says that aim is to carry momentum from the Pakistan series.

"We need to just carry the momentum we have from Pakistan. I was with the A team here in India, just getting my loads up. We have done as much as we could with the preparation."

"It is exciting to play here. Looking forward to everything. My Test since the WTC final. Yeah, bat first. Looks like it's on the drier side. Typical Indian wicket. Runs on the board is key," Bavuma said.

Teams:

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma(c), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne(w), Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.