India vs South Africa 1st Test Preview: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Return To India Squad; Proteas Eye Avenge

India vs South Africa: India's first engrossing Test on the tour of South Africa will be held at the SuperSport Park in Centurion from Tuesday, December 26. Ind vs SA 1st Test is going to be an interesting battle as regular skipper Rohit Sharma and the backbone of India's batting order Virat Kohli are back in the nets. Both the senior players were on a break after the long and tiring ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. With the return of both the top-order batting stars, confident Team India, which outclassed the hosts in the One-Day series, is in the seventh heaven.

Team India was unbeaten for 10 consecutive matches in the ICC ODI World Cup under Rohit Sharma's leadership before the winning streak was stopped by Australia in the finals. Rohit has surely evolved as a better captain and showcased leadership qualities in the recent matches.

This is the first time in the history of Indian cricket that three different captains led Team India in all three formats of the game for the Rainbow Nation tour. In Rohit's absence, Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul held the reins of the team in the T20i and ODI series respectively.

Virat Kohli, the highest run-getter at the world tournament, is also ready to strengthen the side. Virat's class, stylish drives and temperaments to play big innings are going to be Team India's biggest power, and a threat to South Africa. Though Virat missed a few practice sessions ahead of the first Test as he needed to come back home due to a family health emergency, now he is back in Centurion.

The centurion test is going to be a special one for youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal also as he may get a chance to open the innings with captain Rohit to face firey pace attack studded with Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee.

Temba Bavuma's team will do their best as they eye to avenge the defeat secured by Aiden Markram and the men. The Centurion is known for a green top track helpful for the speedsters, and Bavuma's pacers know how to take advantage of the conditions in a better manner.

Notably, Team India has never won a test series in the Rainbow Nation since 2015. South Africa holds a marginally better record in the red ball format against India. Out of 42 encounters, South Africa won 17 matches, while India emerged victorious on 15 occasions. 10 matches resulted in a draw between both sides.

However, the weather is likely to play a key role in the first test as the weather monitoring department has predicted rain during the first test.

Here Are The Test Squads For India and South Africa:

Team India: Rohit Sharma (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shardul Thakur, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah.

South Africa Squad: Temba Bavuma, David Bedingham, Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Nandre Burger, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, and Kagiso Rabada.