India Vs New Zealand 1st Test: India are taking on New Zealand in the first Test of the three-match series at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Benglauru. While Day 1 of the Test match was called off without a ball being bowled due to incessant rain which made no play possible, toss has happned early on Day 2 with the play scheduled to commence at 09:15 Am (Indian Standard Time) instead of the usual 09:30 as revised session timings look to squeeze in 98 overs to somewhat make up for the lost time on the second day.
India captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and elected to bat first at the toss on Day 2. India have made two changes to their Playing 11 from their last Test against Bangladesh, bringing in Sarfaraz Khan in place of an unfit Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav to replace Akash Deep. While New Zealand captain Tom Latham said that they would have elected to bat first as well, the Kiwis have opted to go on in with three seamers and a spinner with two all-rounders capable of bowling spin.
With Gill missing out, KL Rahul has been slotted in to bat at number 3 with Sarfaraz Khan slotted in at his preferred place in the mdidle order. Virat Kohli will continue to bat at number 4 with Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal set to open. With a day lost to rain, the first session will start from 09:15 am and will last till 11:30 with the second and the third sessions scheduled from 12.10pm-2.25pm and 2.45pm-4.45pm respectively.
Playing 11s:
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (captain), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand: Tom Latham (captain), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell(w), Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William ORourke