Injured Shubman Gill Misses Out, Sarfaraz Khan Makes India's Playing XI vs New Zealand at Bengaluru

In what would be called unfortunate, neck stiffness has forced Shubman Gill to sit out of the first Test at Bengaluru versus New Zealand. With Gill not playing, young Sarfaraz Khan gets an opportunity in the Chinnaswamy Test. Another change that has been made and that is Kuldeep Yadav coming into the side in place of Akash Deep. 

‘Gill misses out, Sarfaraz comes in’

"We assess where we are decide what needs to be done as a team. We have played well in the last few Test matches. Fresh series for us and we want to start well. From the last Test two changes, Gill misses out, Sarfaraz comes in. Kuldeep comes in for Akash," Rohit said at the toss after winning it and opting to bat first. 

"It has been under the covers and we do understand that it could be slightly sticky early on but the nature of the pitch is such that you would want to put runs on the board first. You want to get the result as much as we want," the Indian captain added. 

"Wicket has been under covers so hopefully we can make good use of it early with the ball. Bit of weather around, so we have't had a great prep here. Three seamers with Ajaz Patel and we have two all-rounders who bowl spin too," NZ captain Tom Latham said at the toss. 

IND VS NZ PLAYING XI:

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

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