India opt to bat against Australia in 3rd Test; Gill replaces Rahul

INDORE: India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore on Wednesday.

India made two changes with Shubhman Gill replacing KL Rahul and pacer Mohammed Shami was rested to bring in Umesh Yadav. Australia also made two changes with Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc making a comeback.

"We will have a bat first. It is a pretty good dressing room and like you said the morale is high. The guys are confident about their skills which is a good thing moving forward. We have played a lot of cricket (here) but this one (surface) is slightly different. Looks a little dry and you have to adapt your skills and be at it all the time. We are there yet (WTC final) and we have to come and win this game, we have to try and repeat the things we did in the first two Tests. It is important to stay present. We have made two changes - Gill comes in place of KL. We have rested Shami and Umesh comes in," Rohit said after winning the toss.

"Looks pretty dry and no surprise Rohit decided to bat first. Hopefully, we can execute our skills early and out the Indian batters under pressure. It (break) came in at a good time for us, obviously disappointing how we ended the last Test match and the guys have had time to reflect, rest and get back into preparation. Just stick to our methods for longer periods, we went away from it, especially in the second innings of the last game," Steve Smith said during the toss.

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith(c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann.

India lead the four-match Test series 2-0 going into the third match.