Bengaluru, Oct 17: Sarfaraz Khan and Kuldeep Yadav come into India’s playing eleven as captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first against New Zealand in the opening Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.

With rain washing out day one’s play on Wednesday, it means the Test series opener has effectively become a four-day affair. After winning the toss, Rohit said Shubman Gill isn't 100% fit due to neck stiffness, so Sarfaraz is back into the playing eleven after the Dharamshala Test against England in March.

In Gill’s absence, KL Rahul has been slotted in as the number three batter for India. Meanwhile, Kuldeep has been picked as the third spinner alongside Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja ahead of pacer Akash Deep.

“It has been under the covers and we do understand that it could be slightly sticky early on but the nature of the pitch is such that you would want to put runs on the board first. You want to get the result as much as we want.”

“We assess where we are decide what needs to be done as a team. We have played well in the last few Test matches. Fresh series for us and we want to start well,” he said.

Newly-appointed New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips are the spin-bowling allrounders for the visitors alongside left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel. They will be complemented by three pacers in Matt Henry, Tim Southee and William O’Rourke.

“We would have had a bat as well and the wicket has been under covers for three days now. I guess being Test-match hardened is really good. We have managed to refresh (ourselves at home after the SL tour) and good to go now. (The prep) hasn't been great and haven't had a lot of time outdoors, leaning back on the time in Sri Lanka,” he said.

Playing XIs-

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj

New Zealand: Tom Latham (captain), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, and William O’Rourke

--IANS

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