How will the newbies perform against South Africa?

The series between India and South Africa begins today with a warm up game between the visitors and the Indian Board President's XI for a two day game at Nagpur, ahead of the first Test which will be held at the same venue between February 6th and 10th.

Rohit Sharma will lead the President's XI during the warm up game at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, which is situated in the outskirts of Nagpur. All eyes on the rookies, paceman Abhimanyu Mithun, Manpreet Gony and Shikhar Dhawan who have been selected for the warm up game. Mithun has also been drafted into the international team for the first Test after his spectacular performance in the recently concluded Ranji Trophy, he was the highest wicket taker in the season. Mithun will take Sreesanth's place in the squad, the latter has been ruled out owing to a hamstring injury. Rohit Sharma and Piyush Chawla would have a point to prove in the warm up game if they wish to get back in the international squad.

For the Test series Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman S Badrinath is also back in the squad after being overlooked for the Bangladesh tour. He has not yet played an international Test. Another rookie Murali Vijay has also been retained for the South Africa series. The fate of the young trio of Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli remains unclear but Manish Pandey who impressed in the Ranji season has been given a chance to play in the warm up game.

Teams (from):

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Jean-Paul Duminy, Alviro Petersen, Mark Boucher, Paul Harris, Johan Botha, Ryan McLaren, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Board President's XI: Rohit Sharma (capt), Abhinav Mukund, Partiv Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Cheteshwar Pujara, Abhishek Nayar, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin, Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun, Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav, Manpreet Gony.