India vs New Zealand, 1st Test: Injured Shubman Gill is out, Kuldeep Yadav and Sarfaraz Khan are named in India's XI

After the first day of the first Test between India and New Zealand was in vain, the Rohit Sharma-led hosts won the toss on the second day, on Thursday (October 17), and opted to bat first at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Since it was reported that Shubman Gill has a neck problem, the right-hander is out, so India signed Sarfaraz Khan while Kuldeep Yadav replaced Akash Deep. Therefore, India has continued with three spinning mills and two seamers.

At the coin toss, Rohit said, “We will have a bat first. He was under the covers and we understand that it might be a bit sticky at first, but the nature of the pitch is such that you would like to put it there. “They want the result as much as we want it. We assess what needs to be done as a team. We played well in the last few Test matches. I want to start well, two changes, Gill missing, Sarfaraz coming. Kuldeep comes for Akash.

India started this series after a 2-0 win at home against Bangladesh. The home side have won as many as 18 consecutive Test series on home soil since 2012/13 and will pose a serious threat to the Tom Latham-led Kiwis. The Black Caps, on the other hand, were whitewashed by Sri Lanka in the two-match Test series in the island nation and have a tough task ahead of them in this series. Notably, New Zealand have won only two Tests in India.

Without Gill, KL Rahul – who recently moved to the lower order – is likely to finish at number 3. India could spring a surprise by promoting Sarfaraz or Virat Kohli too.

Meanwhile, the visitors will be without Kane Williamson, their most successful batsman, due to a groin injury. Additionally, this is Tom Latham's first series as full-time Test captain, succeeding Tim Southee.

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

New Zealand: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William ORourke