Rohit Sharma stuns everyone with India’s starting XI against New Zealand: No Shubman Gill and Akash Deep; Sarfaraz Khan, Kuldeep in

India made two changes to their eleven that beat Bangladesh 2-0 in the two-match series – they had played both Tests with the same team. Shubman Gill, India’s designated No.3, was replaced by Sarfaraz Khan. “Shubman Gill could not be selected for the first Test due to neck stiffness,” BCCI said.

Although Gill was seen with the other Indian cricketers at Chinnaswamy on Thursday, it is learned that the right-handed batsman has been battling stiffness in his neck for the past few days.

The other change was to India’s bowling attack. Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav was selected ahead of pacer Akash Deep as, contrary to popular belief, India fielded three specialist spinners instead of an additional seamer in wet and overcast conditions.

India didn’t want to bat last

Rohit said the Indian team management took the conditions into account while selecting the XI. Rohit said since the pitch had been covered for more than two days, it was probably damp and hence India did not want to bat last.

“(The pitch has) been under cover for a few days and we are aware that it will be difficult at the beginning. With that in mind, we wanted to put runs on the board,” he said.

India beat Bangladesh with one practice session to spare despite losing to Bangladesh in Kanpur due to two-and-a-half days of rain and wet outfield conditions. So there’s no reason to think they can’t do the same against New Zealand for four days. Rohit, however, responded in moderation.

“Look, it’s a difficult matter because you lose the whole day and you have four days to play. A lot can happen in four days and you want to achieve the best possible result. The last few Tests we played, “We played well and we can take confidence from that and the table looks brilliant,” Rohit said.

India and New Zealand will play two more Tests, in Pune from October 24-28 and in Mumbai from November 1-5.

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

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