Leading the 2-test series 1-0, South Africa wins the toss and bats 1st against India

GUWAHATI, India (AP) – South Africa captain Temba Bavuma won the toss Saturday and the visitors opted to bat against India in the second cricket test.

South Africa won the first test in Kolkata by 30 runs, the Proteas’ first test win in India in 15 years.

Barsapara Stadium becomes the 30th venue in India to host test cricket. It is also the 300th test to be played on Indian soil.

Rishabh Pant became India’s 38th test captain, but without any luck at the coin toss. India has now lost eight of the nine tosses in tests this year.

Pant stood in for Shubman Gill, who was ruled out of this second test. Gill had sustained a neck spasm while batting on day one in Kolkata and didn’t take any further part in that match.

India made two changes – batting allrounder Nitish Reddy came in for Gill, while Sai Sudharsan played ahead of left-arm spin all-rounder Axar Patel.

South Africa made one change – left-arm spin all-rounder Senuran Muthusamy came in for medium pace all-rounder Corbin Bosch.

South Africa was chasing a first test series win in India since 2000-01.

The pitch for the first-ever test at Barsapara Stadium was primarily red soil. It will be in sharp focus after the previous test at Eden Gardens finished inside three days. There should be more consistent bounce but spin will play a prominent role once again.

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Lineups:

India: Lokesh Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant (captain, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (captain), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Senuran Muthusamy, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj