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At Green Park, Kanpur, India captain Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and decided to bat first. With slow passive wicket, the pitch favours the spinners. With that in consideration, both teams have included spinners in their team.
There is big news in both the camps as New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson returns to the fold, while KL Rahul misses out due to muscle strain for India. Shreyas Iyer has been given his debut cap as revealed by Rahane in the pre-match press conference. As expected, India opted to go with three spinners and two pacers.
Shubman Gill is will open alongside Mayank Agarwal with regular opening duo of Rahul and Rohit Sharma missing out. Before the toss, legendary Sunil Gavaskar presented Iyer with his debut Test cap. There is no Suryakumar Yadav in the side after he replaced an injured Rahul in the squad.
New Zealand have gone with two pacers, two spinners and a spin all-rounder. New Zealand haven’t won a Test in India in 33 years and having lost the toss, it remains a big challenge for the kiwis.
India Playing XI: Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav
New Zealand Playing XI: Tom Latham, Will Young, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, Kyle Jamieson, William Somerville
