Indian captain Rohit Sharma was startled during the toss of the first India vs New Zealand Test at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The draw was held at 8:45 a.m. to allow for an early start on the second day after the first day of play without a ball being thrown. Avoiding the temptation to use overcast conditions, Rohit had no hesitation in opting to bat first after winning the toss on Thursday. But the biggest surprise was India’s playing XI.
India made two changes to their XI as they beat Bangladesh 2-0 in the two-match series – they had played both Tests with the same team. Shubman Gill, India’s designated No. 3, was replaced by Sarfaraz Khan. “Shubman Gill was unavailable for selection in the first Test due to neck stiffness,” the BCCI said.
Although Gill was spotted with the rest of the Indian cricketers at Chinnaswamy on Thursday, it was learned that the right-handed batter was suffering from neck stiffness for the past few days.
The other change is in India’s bowling attack. Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was picked ahead of pacer Akash Deep as India, contrary to popular belief about the humid and overcast conditions, went in with three specialist spinners instead of an extra seamer.
India didn’t want to play last
Rohit said that the Indian team management took the conditions into account while selecting the XI. Because the pitch had been covered for more than two days, Rohit said, it was likely to be wet and, therefore, India did not want to bowl last.
“(The pitch has been) under the covers for a few days and we understand it will be tricky at first. With that in mind, we wanted to put points on the board,” he said.
India beat Bangladesh with a session to spare despite losing two and a half days due to rain and wet pitch in Kanpur against Bangladesh, so there is no reason to believe that they will not be able to not do the same with four days against New Zealand. Rohit, however, was measured in his response.
“Look, it’s a tricky question because you lose the whole day and you have four days to play. A lot can happen over the course of four days and you want to get the best result possible. In the last Tests that we played, we played well and we can take confidence from that and the picture looks bright,” Rohit said.
India and New Zealand will play two more Tests, in Pune from October 24-28 and in Mumbai from November 1-5.
Inside XI : Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (semaine), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand XI: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (semaine), Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William O’Rourke.
