Mirpur, Apr 4 (PTI) : South Africa captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat against India in the semifinal of the World Twenty20 Championship here today.

South Africa have made just one change to the side with du Plessis coming in for Farhaan Behardein. India are unchanged for the match.

South Africa faced up to the spin challenge first on a pitch that appeared to be good for batting but was also expected to take plenty of turn. Despite the Dhaka pitch aiding the spinners far more than the Chittagong's, from which South Africa have come, they did not include the second specialist spinner, Aaron Phangiso, in their XI.

Imran Tahir, the leading wicket-taker so far among teams that did not have to qualify for the Super Ten, will be the lone tweaker for South Africa with JP Duminy providing back-up. South Africa's only change from the side that saw them win against England was the return of Faf du Plessis, who was suspended because of slow over-rates for the previous game. Farhaan Behardien made way for the captain.

With five of the last six matches at the venue being won by the team batting first, MS Dhoni admitted he would have preferred that to chasing. But that is the only thing that may bother India. They are unbeaten in the tournament so far and considered favourites for the title. They opted for an unchanged XI which meant no room for Shikhar Dhawan or Mohammad Shami.

India are the current holders of the World Cup and the Champions Trophy and are chasing a third limited-overs crown while South Africa are aiming to break a major tournament hoodoo. They have not won a knockout game at an ICC event in 16 years and will hope one of the things that has prevented them from doing so, rain, stays away.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohit Sharma

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Dale Steyn, Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Wayne Parnell.