India opt to field, Ashwin replaces Umesh against Proteas
India have won the toss and elected to bowl first in their do-or-die third Champions Trophy Group B fixture against top-ranked South Africa at the Kennington Oval here on 11 June.
After winning the toss, skipper Virat Kohli said, "Teams generally like chasing, gives us a chance to do what we need to do when we come out to bat. Depends on what the bowlers offer us. When you bat second, you know what you need to do."
South Africa captain AB de Villiers, on the other hand, said that although they too would have opted to bowl first, they are looking forward to post a good total on the scoreboard.
"Probably not a bad thing to bowl first, but happy to bat. Excited to get a score. We seen some good scoring here, upto our batters to communicate really well to understand what is a good score," he said.
As far as Playing XI is concerned, both teams have made one change.
While India have roped in Ravichandran Ashwin in place of Umesh Yadav , South Africa are going with Andile Phehlukwayo in place of Wayne Parnell.
India will head into the penultimate fixture knowing that a win or washout will put them in the semifinals, while a loss would eliminate the defending champions from the eight-team marquee event.
De Villiers's side, on the other hand, will be determined to break their winless streak against India in the tournament and seal a spot in the last-four.
Going into the virtual `quarterfinal` clash, both India and South Africa hold two points each after registering comprehensive wins against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively in their opening clash.
While India slumped to a seven-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka in their second match, South Africa went down by 19 runs against Pakistan at the Edgbaston.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah.
South Africa Playing XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers (c), David Miller, JP Duminy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.
-ANI
