Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 1 (ANI): New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the third and final Test of the series on Friday.
India will be looking to save their pride as they take on the Kiwis at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. With the hosts being 0-2 down in the three-match series and having endured their first series loss in Tests at home in 12 years, they will be aiming to play out of their skins in order to avoid an embarrassing whitewash.
Speaking at the toss, Latham said, ” We are gonna have a bat. Looks a reasonably good surface, hopefully put some runs on the board again and put a little bit of pressure later on. Definitely focusing on this game. We spoke about it before the second Test in Pune. What we did in Bangalore was great, but we had to switch our focus quickly to that second Test and nothing changed. A new opportunity in this game.”
Latham went on to remark that the change in fortunes for the side from a series loss to Sri Lanka away from home to a historic series win in India makes Test cricket a “funny game”. He also said that Mitchell Santner will miss out on the match due to a side strain while Matt Henry will come in for Tim Southee.
“In Sri Lanka, I don’t think we played all that badly. Unfortunately, you can just fall on the wrong side of the result. I do not think we have changed a lot in the last two weeks. We have tried to keep things simple and play our brand of cricket. We are hoping for more of the same this game. It’s about adapting to the surface as quickly as possible. Mitch Santner has got a little bit of a side strain. Ish Sodhi comes in. Matt Henry is fit and he comes in for Tim Southee.”
For India, Mohammed Siraj comes in for an unwell Jasprit Bumrah.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said at the toss, “We understand and accept that we have not played well through the series. This gives us another opportunity to try and correct those things. Looks like a good pitch. Hopefully we can restrict them as quickly as possible and then focus with the bat. Our focus is on this Test match. We want to try and play well in this Test match. In the back of your mind, you need to look at what lies ahead, but it is important to stay in the present, focus on what we need to do today and worry about all those things later. It’s important that we play our best cricket which we haven’t in this series. Unfortunately, Jasprit Bumrah is not well, Siraj comes in for him.”
New Zealand (Playing XI): Tom Latham(c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell(w), Glenn Phillips, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel, William ORourke
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj. (ANI)
