Proteas captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and chose to bowl on day one of the opening Test against India in Centurion on Tuesday.
While the start of the match was delayed due to a wet outfield, play got underway at 10.30am, half an hour after the scheduled start.
The SA team features two uncapped players – middle-order batter David Bedingham and fast bowler Nandre Burger – who will make their Test debuts.
Opening batter Dean Elgar, who will retire at the end of the series, will play his last Test match at his home ground.
Pace bowler Lungi Ngidi has recovered from an ankle injury, Cricket SA confirmed, but he is not yet fit to play.
Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Keegan Petersen, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger
Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
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