BENGALURU: India won the toss, decided to bat first in the three-Test series against New Zealand here at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Thursday.

The big news from the centre is that Shubman Gill, who was suffering from neck stiffness, will not be part of the first Test and Sarfaraz Khan will replace him.

And India has gone with the extra spin option by including Kuldeep Yadav into the eleven ahead of pacer Akash Deep.

After rain playing spoilsport on the opening day, things look quite decent at the moment at least to have a start.

There were no rains in the city all night, which would be great news for the fans and more so for the ground staff who removed the covers from the pitch after nearly two days.

However, heavy clouds remain over the city and the weathermen have issued forecast for rains. So, it will most likely be a start-stop affair throughout the day.

Both the teams arrived early in the morning for the usual morning drills after not having any training session outdoors for two days.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, vice captain Jasprit Bumrah and the head coach Gautam Gambhir minutes before the toss were in a long discussion after having a look at the pitch.