With India 2-0 up in the series, captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted the bat against Australia in the third Test at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Wednesday. The hosts made two changes, with out-of-form opener KL Rahul losing his place in the playing XI to youngster Shuman Gill. Rahul, who scored just 38 runs in the first two Tests of the series, has been under the scanner as several current and former players had questioned his place in the team. After Rahul was dropped from the team, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar suggested that the team management made the right decision.
“I was thinking whether the management will show courage and do the right thing with KL Rahul, who is a big name player and has played some important innings in the past. I think everyone supports the decision, so well done,” Manjrekar said after toss.
As far as India’s second change is concerned, veteran pacer Umesh Yadav replaced Mohammed Shami in the playing XI
Australia, on the other hand, also made two changes to the side that lost the second Test by six wickets in New Delhi, bringing in pace-bowling stalwart Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green in place of Pat Cummins and David Warner, who have both returned home.
Australia is being captained by Steve Smith in the match.
Teams: India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann.
(With PTI Inputs)
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