India vs South Africa, LIVE Cricket Score, 1st Test at Visakhapatnam: Rohit Sharma in focus as hosts aim to start afresh

07:25 (IST)

Hello and welcome to our LIVE coverage of Day one of the first Test between top-ranked India and South Africa, beginning Visakhapatnam. This will be the Proteas' inaugural Test series which is part of the newly-introduced ICC World Test Championship, whereas Virat Kohli and Co opened their campaign with a 2-0 series win over West Indies in August. 

India vs South Africa, LIVE Cricket Score, Test Match, Day 1 at Visakhapatnam Latest Updates: Hello and welcome to our LIVE coverage of Day one of the first Test between top-ranked India and South Africa, beginning Visakhapatnam. This will be the Proteas' inaugural Test series which is part of the newly-introduced ICC World Test Championship, whereas Virat Kohli and Co opened their campaign with a 2-0 series win over West Indies in August.

Preview: One-day big hitter Rohit Sharma will stake a claim to become India's first-choice opening Test batsman when they start a series against South Africa on Wednesday looking for a record-breaking win.

Victory in the three-match series would see India break the record of 10 straight home series wins they currently hold with Australia.

Much focus in the first Test in Visakhapatnam will be on the 32-year-old Sharma – a star of India's limited-overs teams as well as skipper of the Mumbai Indians who won this year's Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.

Sharma has not been a Test regular, however. The last of his 27 Test caps since 2013 was in Australia last year.

He now has a new chance, replacing the out-of-form KL Rahul, as the opening positions remain a problem for India.

"He has worked so hard and if he gets an opportunity, I am sure he will do well," vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane said of Sharma.

"We all know the quality he has. He is simply special."

The new Sharma experiment has had a disastrous start, however -- he was dismissed for a duck on the second ball he faced in a practice game against the South Africans.

Natural runs

India batting great VVS Laxman said Sharma needs to stick to his natural flair while opening in the longer format.

"If you tweak your natural game too much, then you will not get the results as your mind gets cluttered and you tend to lose your rhythm," said Laxman, a middle-order batsman who was forced to open for India.

"I can admit that my flow was affected when I opened. Rohit is a rhythm-based player and if his touch gets affected, then it will be difficult."

 

Squads

India

Virat Kohli (capt), Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill

South Africa

Faf du Plessis (capt), Temba Bavuma, Theunis de Bruyn, Quinton de Kock, Dean Elgar, Zubayr Hamza, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Senuran Muthusamy, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Vernon Philander, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Rudi Second

With inputs from AFP

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