South Africa captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat against India in the second one-day international of the series in Durban on Wednesday.
The first match of the series, in Johannesburg on Sunday, was abandoned due to rain.
India go into the opening match in South Africa without opener Virender Sehwag, who is still nursing a finger injury.
Wasim Jaffer will replace the Delhi batsman.
The tourists left out Irfan Pathan for an extra batsman.
Zaheer Khan makes a comeback into the side after the series in Pakistan in February.
The hosts, who had promised a scathing pace attack on the eve of the match, dropped spinner Robin Peterson for Charl Langeveldt.
Teams:
South Africa: Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock
India: Wasim Jaffer, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Kaif, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Mongia, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel