South Africa elect to bat, India bring in Reddy and Sudharsan
Cricket - International Test Match Series - Third Test - England v India - Lord's Cricket Ground, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 India's Nitish Kumar Reddy celebrates with teammates the wicket of England's Ben Duckett Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma elected to bat after winning the toss in the second test against India in Guwahati on Saturday.
South Africa, who are 1-0 ahead in the two-test series, replaced seamer Corbin Bosch with spinner Senuran Muthusamy in the lone change to their squad.
"The wicket looks a lot better," said Bavuma, whose team won the opening test inside three days in Kolkata. "No cracks really, pitch looks consistent.
"We'll try to get a good score first up and play the game from there."
Led by stand-in captain Rishabh Pant, India replaced injured regular skipper Shubman Gill with Nitish Kumar Reddy and brought in batter B Sai Sudharsan in place of all-rounder Axar Patel for the first ever test at the Barsapara Stadium.
Wicketkeeper-batter Pant said leading India was a "proud moment" for him.
"As a cricketer, you always aspire to lead your country. I'm thankful to the BCCI (Indian board) for this opportunity," he said.
Teams:
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, B Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant (captain, wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (captain), Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wicketkeeper), Marco Jansen, Senuran Muthusamy, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj
