The Indian cricket team will be aiming for their maiden Test series win in South Africa as the Virat Kohli-led side is gearing up for three Tests.
However, to achieve an elusive series win in the rainbow nation, Indian openers need to give a good start as always given the record of visiting openers has not been impressive.
Since 2016, the openers of the touring country have scored only 493 runs in 6 games in comparison to South African openers' 832 runs in as many games.
So, the onus to give India a perfect start will be on KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal with Priyank Panchal being the reserve opener.
Rahul would look to forget the demons of his previous South Africa tour given he got dismissed for paltry 10, 4, 0, and 16 in 4 innings.
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The 29-year batter would like to improve his stats this time given he has been in good form in overseas conditions this year. He accumulated 315 runs in 4 Tests during the England tour at an average of 39.37, including a century and one fifty.
Meanwhile, this will be Mayank Agarwal's maiden tour to South Africa. He is coming into the Boxing Day Test with scores of 150 and 62 against New Zealand at home.
Moreover, in the absence of any of the two Karnataka batters due to injury, Panchal may get a chance at the top order. He has been India A's captain that visited South Africa recently for unofficial Tests. In the 2 matches, he amassed 120 runs with 96 being his highest score.