An Australia victory in the second Test would ensure the tourists cannot lose the four-match series and would mean another failure for South Africa, who haven't beaten Australia in a series at home since 1970.

Josh Hazlewood trapped Quinton de Kock lbw for 83 as Australia bowled South Africa out for 298 in its second innings to register a commanding 118-run win to take 1-0 lead in the four-Test series.

53 from opener Cameron Bancroft, and contributions from Smith, David Warner (28) and Shaun Marsh (33) ensured Australia moved on to 213/9 at stumps.

Australian captain Steve Smith made 56, his fifth straight score of 50 or more in Tests, but his fall to spinner Keshav Maharaj before tea was the biggest moment of the day of the first Test for the hosts.

The 34-year-old AB de Villiers, likely in the final flourishes of his career, last made a Test century in January 2015 and was subdued in South Africa's series victory over India.

South Africa expects captain Faf du Plessis, batsman AB de Villiers and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock to all return from injuries for the first Test in Durban.

Smith had led the Rising Pune Supergiant last year to the final of the IPL where they eventually lost to champions Mumbai Indians.

Rajasthan Royals, are making a comeback in the league after having faced a two-year ban in the famous IPL fixing scandal and would be looking to aim a perfect captain to flag-bear the team.

The attacking left-hander is the only member of the victorious Ashes squad to feature in all three formats of the game for the Kangaroos in this Australian summer.

Smith emerged the clear winner of the Allan Border medal - Australia's foremost individual cricket honour, that he previously secured in 2015 having finished well clear of his vice-captain David Warner and off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

The 31-year-old was forced to leave the ground after pulling up sore while playing for Tasmania on day two of their Sheffield Shield encounter against Queensland at the Gabba

Under Smith's leadership, Australia have won just two out of 13 one-day internationals in the past 12 months, but the skipper has quashed any talk of giving up ODI captaincy.

The India captain's next chance to gain more points will be either the one-off Test against Afghanistan in June or the five-Test series against England in August/September.

The cricketer was enjoying the game with his fiancee Dani Willis, though a mistake on social media made him a victim of trolling.

Smith's actions raised a few eyebrows but the Australian skipper laughed off the reaction after viewing the replay of the footage shown to him, stating that it was it standard technique to help shine the ball.

Warner was present at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday, walking laps, but didn't take part in the training session.

Each of Australia's four frontline bowlers took more than 20 wickets in the five-match series with Pat Cummins leading the way with 23 dismissals, followed by Mitchell Starc (22), Josh Hazlewood (21) and Nathan Lyon (21).

Khawaja struggled early to find any rhythm, particularly against spinners Moeen Ali and Mason Crane, but survived to raise his 50 off 107 balls.

Another day and another milestone reached by the Australian skipper as he becomes the second fastest to score 6000 runs in 111 innings, the first occupied by Don Bradman.

Smith was earlier on retained by Rajasthan Royals where he had been a part of the team during 2014 and 2015 and led the side to the play-offs as well.