Indian captain Anil Kumble won the toss and elected to bat against South Africa in the second Test in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Kumble underwent a fitness test earlier in the morning and was cleared to play. The home captain had picked up a elbow injury during the drawn first Test in Chennai.
Indian pacer Ishant Sharma, however, was ruled out of the Test with a sitff back.
Left-arm paceman Irfan Pathan will replace the injured Sachin Tendulkar in the playing XI as India decided to go in with five specialist bowlers.
South Africa went in with an unchanged side.
Teams:
India: A Kumble, MS Dhoni, R Dravid, S Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, W Jaffer, VVS Laxman, I Pathan, V Sehwag, RP Singh, S Sreesanth
South Africa: N McKenzie, G Smith, H Amla, J Kallis, A Prince, AB de Villiers, M Boucher, M Morkel, P Harris, D Steyn, M Ntini