South Africa captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against India at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.
For India, left-arm pacer RP Singh made a comeback into the team after recovering from the hamstring injury during the Test series in Australia. He will be sharing the new ball with S Sreesanth, while Irfan Pathan was left out.
Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble will be the two spinners, while Yuvraj Singh was once again relegated to the sidelines.
Meanwhile, South Africa left out Jean-Paul Duminy, Monde Zondeki and Robin Peterson for the opening game of the three-Test series.
Teams:
India: Anil Kumble (captain), Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly MS Dhoni (w/k), Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, S Sreesanth.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher (w/k), Morne Morkel, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini.