London: England won the toss and asked India to bat first in the third Test of the ongoing five-match series at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground.
Following the toss, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said, “We wanted to bat first, it seems pretty hard. The idea was to play freely and put up runs on the board. Just go out and express yourself.”
England captain Joe Root, on the other hand, said that green coverage on the pitch would be helpful for the bowlers and it is a great opportunity for the team to do “something special.”
Reflecting on the team combinations, Kohli confirmed that spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been replaced by pacer Jasprit Bumrah, whereas Rishabh Pant and Shikhar Dhawan have also made their way into the team.
For England, Ben Stokes has come in at the place of Sam Curran.
Earlier in the day, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had confirmed that left-hand batsman Rishabh Pant would be making his debut in the third Test of the ongoing series. Pant became the 291st player to represent India in Test cricket.
India will strive to put up a solid performance and keep their winning hopes alive in the series which they are trailing 0-2.
The two squads are as follows:
India playing XI- Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant (wk).
England playing XI- Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (C), Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Anderson. (ANI)