KOLKATA: India have welcomed back Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel into their playing eleven as South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first in the Test series opener at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
South Africa, the current World Test Championship winners, come on the back of a 1-1 draw in Pakistan and are playing a Test match in India after six years. India, meanwhile, arrive after beating the West Indies 2-0 at home last month.
Pant, returning from a right foot fracture, has reclaimed the wicketkeeping duties and comes in place of Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was released from the squad to play India A 50-over games against South Africa A in Rajkot.
Axar, meanwhile, comes into the playing eleven at the expense of B Sai Sudharsan, with India fielding all four spinners and another keeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, who’s slated to bat at number seven.