India bat first, Mishra misses out

Toss: Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first against New Zealand in India's landmark 500th Test, at Green Park in Kanpur on Thursday (September 22).

Team news

India:

 India have opted to go in with four bowlers - two spinners and two seamers. With Ishant Sharma ruled out due to chikungunya, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav are the two quicks in the playing XI, while Amit Mishra, the legspinner, misses out.

New Zealand: New Zealand have gone in with three spinners and two seamers, both left-armers, while Luke Ronchi is included as a specialist batsman.

© Provided by Wisden

What they said

Virat Kohli:

 We will bat, looks like a good wicket for the first day. We'll look to put good runs on the board. The start has been good in West Indies and the preparation has been good for this series. I couldn't have imagined being the captain for the 500th Test, I feel honoured. We have six batsmen, with two spinners and two quicks.

Kane Williamson: It would have been nice to win the toss. Looks a very dry surface, would have liked to bat first but not to be. Had a good weekend and acclimatised to the heat. The wicket looks different to the Delhi wicket (where they played a warm-up match). Looking forward to an exciting young team and looking forward to good spinners unravelling here on this pitch. We have three spinners, one allrounder, and (Trent) Boult and (Neil) Wagner are the two seamers.

Series: India’s historic 500^th Test is the first of a three-match series, and acts as the curtain raiser for the hosts’ landmark home season comprising 13 Tests.

Conditions: The pitch has a few cracks and is dry, and is expected to break as the match progresses. It is quite humid, but there is forecast for a spot of rain on at least four out of the five scheduled days of this Test.

Teams

India: 

M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin,Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav.

New Zealand: Tom Latham, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson (capt), Ross Taylor, Luke Ronchi, BJ Watling (wk), Mitchell Santner, Mark Craig, Ish Sodhi, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult.