New Zealand skipper Tom Latham won the toss and has opted to bat first against India in the third and final Test of the series. (Match Blog|Scorecard| More Cricket News)
With Mitchell Santner out with a side strain, New Zealand bring in Ish Sodhi, while Matt Henry replaces Tim Southee.
Playing XIs
New Zealand: Tom Latham(c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell(w), Glenn Phillips, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel, William ORourke
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
The big news from the Indian camp is that Jasprit Bumrah will sit out due to illness, with Mohammed Siraj replacing him.
Explaining his decision to bat first, Latham said: "We are gonna have a bat. Looks a reasonably good surface, hopefully put some runs on the board again and put a little bit of pressure later on.
He added, "Definitely focusing on this game. We spoke about it before the second Test in Pune. What we did in Bangalore was great, but we had to switch our focus quickly to that second Test and nothing changes. A new opportunity this game. It's a funny game - Test cricket. In Sri Lanka, I don't think we played all that badly."
"Unfortunately you can just fall on the wrong side of the result. I don't think we have changed a lot in the last two weeks. We have tried to keep things simple and play our brand of cricket. We are hoping for more of the same this game. It's about adapting to the surface as quickly as possible. Mitch Santner has got a little bit of a side strain. Ish Sodhi comes in. Matt Henry is fit and he comes in for Tim Southee," Latham concluded.
His opposite number Rohit Sharma said: "We understand and accept that we haven't played well through the series. Gives us another opportunity to try and correct those things. Looks like a good pitch. Hopefully we can restrict them as quickly as possible and then focus with the bat. Our focus is on this Test match. We want to try and play well in this Test match."
He added: "In the back of your mind, you need to look at what lies ahead, but it's important to stay in present, focus on what we need to to today and worry about all those things later. It's important that we play our best cricket which we haven't in this series. Unfortunately, Bumrah is not well, Siraj comes in for him."
