Proteas suffer huge blow as Kagiso Rabada is ruled out of Eden Gardens Test opener

Proteas fast bowler Kagiso Rabada has been ruled out of the first Test match between India and South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The 30-year-old sustained a rib injury during training in the build-up to the first Test in Kolkata, ruling him out of the first Test as the Proteas suffered a massive blow to their chances.

In a Test match where South Africa needed their big players to stand up with the World Test Championship on the line, Rabada’s absence is a big setback for South Africa.

There is no replacing a fast bowler of the calibre of Rabada.

However, young quicks such as Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch now have massive shoes to fill as captain Temba Bavuma and coach Shukri Conrad will look to them to do the job with the new ball and the reverse swinging ball later in the match.

Bavuma called correctly at the toss, winning it and opting to bat first in the opening Test match. The Proteas have opted to play seven batters, with Wiaan Mulder returning to the starting XI at No 3 in the batting order, having missed out in the second Test in Pakistan last month.

Dewald Brevis misses out of the first Test, and Tony de Zorzi has been rewarded with a selection after being South Africa’s best batter in Pakistan, scoring a century and a couple of fifties.

De Zorzi will bat at No 5, with Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne making up the top seven, while Bavuma takes his usual number four spot.

Bavuma and Conrad have stuck with the opening pair of Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton at the top of the order and will be hoping the pair comes right in Kolkata.

On the bowling front, quicks Jansen and Bosch will most likely take the new ball and will have all-rounder Mulder to assist, while Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer are the two selected spinners.

Senuran Muthusamy has missed out on the first Test despite winning the Player of the Series in Pakistan last month and the ICC Player of the Month award for October.

"We will have a bat," said Bavuma at the toss. "The boys just came back from Pakistan. I was with the A team. From a preparation point of view, we've done as best as we can. It's not every day you get to play against 50,000-60,000 people in the stands. So, I'm looking forward to the challenge.

"Being back in India, it's always an eye-opener. Looking forward to everything. It's been sitting well at the moment (on being the World Test Champions). Hopefully, nothing really changes. For the performance point of view, work around with a lot more pride.

"But to keep doing what we've been doing. (On the pitch) It's on the dry side. Not much grass. It's a typical Indian wicket. First innings runs is the key. Rabada misses out due to a rib injury, Corbin Bosch comes in his place."

TEAMS FOR EDEN GARDENS

PROTEAS: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Wiaan Mulder, 4 Temba Bavuma (capt), 5 Tony de Zorzi, 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Corbin Bosch, 10 Simon Harmer, 11 Keshav Maharaj

INDIA: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Washington Sundar, 4 Shubman Gill (capt), 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Dhruv Jurel, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj