SAfrica win toss, elect to bat

Chennai, Mar 26 (PTI) South African captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat in the first cricket Test of the three-match series against India at the M A Chidambaram stadium here today.

The Indians have left out Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla from the final squad. Yuvraj Singh has been named 12th man in the side.

The South Africans, meanwhile, have dropped Monde Zondeki and Robin Peterson from the playing XI.

Smith said Peterson has been left out because he landed here only last morning and needed some time to get acclimatised to the conditions.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (Capt), Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher (WK), A B de Villiers, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Niel Mckenzie, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Nitini, Ashwell Prince and Dale Steyn.

12th man: Jean Duminy India: Anil Kumble (Capt), M S Dhoni (WK), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, V V S Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Wasim Jaffer, R P Singh, S Sreesanth.

12th man: Yuvraj Singh Umpires: Tony Hill and Asad Rauf.

Standbyes: Amish Saheba and S K Tarapore.

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama.

Hours of play: 9.30 am to 11.30 am, 12.10 pm to 2.10 pm, 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm.

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