The Proteas won the toss and chose to bat first against India in the second Test at Newlands in Cape Town on Wednesday.
South Africa won the first Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion last week, ensuring the best India could manage in the two-match series would be a 1-1 draw.
Dean Elgar captains the side in his final bow in Test cricket, with regular skipper Temba Bavuma ruled out through injury.
Tristan Stubbs makes his Test debut for South Africa, coming in for Bavuma. Lungi Ngidi comes in for Gerald Coetzee and Keshav Maharaj replaces Keegan Petersen.
‘In a great position’
Elgar said: “We’re in a great position. This is a new start for us. It’s our marquee game of the season. The scoreboard starts on nought, so we’re all mindful of that.
“It is definitely my last one [Test match], and hopefully its a memorable one.”
Meanwhile, India have made two changes to their team. Ravindra Jadeja replaces Ravi Ashwin and Mukesh Kumar comes in for Shardul Thakur.
Looking back at Elgar’s career, here are five of his best Test tons.
Elgar and his teammates will be motivated to put in a strong performance, following the announcement of an inexperienced SA squad which is set to take on hosts New Zealand in a two-Test series next month. The squad was widely criticised, among those critics was Australian legend Steve Waugh.
Teams:
South Africa: Dean Elgar (capt), Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi
India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar.