Ashwin vs Thakur, KL Rahul or Iyer at No. 6? Gambhir, Doull, Manjrekar name varied India XI for Centurion opener vs SA

The tour of South Africa will be India's second assignment in the ongoing WTC cycle after their 2-0 win in West Indies series earlier this year

India have their set of selection headaches to overcome as the day for the two-match Test series opener against South Africa at the SuperSport Park in Centurion draws closer. The tour of South Africa will be India's second assignment in the ongoing World Test Championship cycle after their West Indies series, where the Rohit Sharma-led side had scripted a whitewash. Having secured the top spot in the WTC points table after Pakistan lost their Perth game against Australia earlier this week, followed by a punishment over slow over-rate, India will be aiming to maintain the spot in their bid to claim a maiden Test series win in the rainbow nation.

Will Ashwin or Thakur or both play in the India's Test series opener against South Africa

One of India's major selection headache will be picking the second all-rounder between Ravichandran Ashwin, who has five Test centuries to his name and is India's leading wicket-taker among active cricketers, and Shardul Thakur, who will also add depth to their pace-bowling department.

The other selection dilemma will be between Prasidh Krishna and Mukesh Kumar as the replacement for Mohammed Shami, who had been earlier ruled out of the series owing to an ankle injury from which he failed to recover. Either one will be joining the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, who will be making a return to the format for the first time since July 2022. The third will be between playing a returning KL Rahul, who will be donning the gloves for the first time ever in Test cricket, at No. 5 instead of Shreyas Iyer or at No. 6 while retaining the latter's No. 5 spot.

Star Sports had their panel of cricket experts pick their India playing XI for the Centurion opener against South Africa and the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Simon Doull and Sanjay Manjrekar came up with varied responses. Here are their India XIs…

Gautam Gambhir's India XI vs South Africa: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja/ R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj

Sanjay Manjrekar's India XI vs South Africa: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj

Simon Doull's India XI vs South Africa: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.