"What does Kohli 2.0 hold out for" - Twitterati react after the toss in the first ODI between India and South Africa in Paarl

After suffering a disappointing Test series loss last week against South Africa, Team India are back in action today, looking for redemption in the ODI series. Paarl is hosting the first ODI of the three-match series against the Proteas today.

South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and opted to bat first. Bavuma revealed that the possibility of the pitch slowing up as the match progresses is the reason behind his decision.

Team India have handed a ODI debut to exciting batting all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer. Marco Jansen will make his ODI debut for the hosts following an impressive showing in the recently concluded Test series.

Here are the playing XIs for today's game:

India playing XI: KL Rahul (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

South Africa playing XI: Quinton de Kock(w), Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma(c), David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi

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Follow the live match updates here.

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Most of the Indian cricket fans are looking forward to witnessing Virat Kohli in action without leadership responsibilities after a long time. Venkatesh Iyer's debut has also been well received as he is an exciting prospect for India across formats. Some ae unhappy about the team's balance, with Shardul Thakur slotted in at number 7.

Here are some of the best reactions from fans:

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"Virat had this amazing ability to get the best out of everybody" - KL Rahul on the experience of playing under Virat Kohli's leadership

KL Rahul recently praised former Indian skipper Virat Kohli and opened up about the great facets of his leadership tenure. Rahul revealed that Virat Kohli was great at bringing the best out of his teammates and pushing them positively to do special things on the field.

Speaking about Kohli's captaincy stint at a press conference on the eve of the first ODI against South Africa, KL Rahul said:

"When it comes to leadership, Virat had this amazing ability to get the best out of everybody. He pushed everybody and made us believe that we can do special things, so that’s something that I’ve learnt from him and hopefully I can do that with the team as well."

He added:

"The things I’ve learnt from Virat Kohli about captaincy, obviously the whole world knows how passionate he is about Test cricket and cricket in general. He has led from the front, he brought about a lot of changes in the team."

India's stand-in white ball captain signed off by saying:

"The winning belief that is there in the team is largely because of Virat as a leader, and he’s made us all believe in ourselves and believe that we can go outside of India and beat any team. So I’d want to continue that and obviously build on it and get better as a team."

Virat Kohli previously played under the captaincy of Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni before becoming a full-time skipper of India across all formats.