South Africa vs India 2018: India's probable playing XI for the first TestÂ
After playing at home and familiar conditions over the last two years, Indian team is set to kick off their first assignment of 2018 against South Africa at the Newlands in Capetown from January 5.
The Indian selectors have named a strong 17-member squad for the tour. However, there is the question of selecting the best possible XI as there are a few spots in the playing XI which more than two players are fighting for.
The team combination (6-5 or 7-4) with which the Indian team will go in, the bowling attack (2-2 or 3-1 or either of them with Hardik Pandya providing an extra seam option) are some of the key areas the team management will look to address.
Let us take a look at India's probable playing XI for the first Test.
Squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Parthiv Patel, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.