India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss in overcast conditions and opted to field first in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday. With the series level at 1-1, the next five days in Brisbane could potentially decide the fate of the BGT series. Australia will look to build the momentum they found in Adelaide, while India will look to draw inspiration from the record-shattering victory in Perth. Australia decided to bring in Josh Hazlewood, who missed the second Test due to side strain. Scott Boland, who played an influential role for Australia with the pink ball had to make way for Hazlewood. For India, Harshit Rana and Ravichandran Ashwin were replaced by right-arm seamer Akash Deep and seasoned all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
After winning the toss, India captain Rohit Sharma informed about the two changes and said they want to make the best use of the overcast conditions.
“We’re going to bowl first. A little bit overcast and has a little bit of grass, looks a bit soft as well, want to make the best use of the conditions. Lot of cricket to be played, both teams have played good cricket in the last two games. Big game for us here, we’ll do what is expected of us. We’ll play good cricket. We understand we have to capture some moments. We didn’t do that in the previous game, which is why we lost,” he said.
Being asked about the atmosphere in the dressing room, Rohit said, “It’s absolutely buzzing. The guys are looking forward to the match, we’re looking forward to coming out here and playing. Looks a little soft at this point in time, conditions bit overcast as well, but it will get better to bat as it goes on. We’ve made two changes, Jadeja and Akash back in place of Ashwin and Harshit.”
Australia captain Pat Cummins said during the time of the toss that Aussies would have also bowled first.
“We would’ve bowled first too. Been a fantastic series so far. Really happy with last week, just about everyone got into the series, been a good lead-up. Preparations have been pretty good. Early finish in Adelaide allowed us to come up here early and get settled. Just one change, Scott Boland is out for Hazlewood,” he said.
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep
Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
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