Lucknow, Oct 6: India have won the toss and elected to field against South Africa in the first ODI here at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
India captain Shikhar Dhawan said that Ruturaj Gaikwad will make his ODI debut.
“We would like to field first. There is a bit of moisture on the wicket and we want to exploit that. We got 6 batters and 5 bowlers playing. Ruturaj is making his debut today. 2 spinners and 3 pacers,” Dhawan said.
On the other hand South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma said: “We would have liked to bowl first as well. We have a job to do with the bat and we need to adapt accordingly after the first few overs. You gotta be able to adapt to different formats quickly and we still want to keep those T20 skills in check. Every game for us is a big opportunity. Malan is back at the top, Klaasen is back in the middle and also Shamsi is back.”
Playing XIs
India: Shikhar Dhawan(c), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson(w), Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Siraj, Avesh Khan
South Africa: Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi
