Mumbai, Nov 1 Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah decided to sit out as New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the third and final Test of the 2024 series at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday.
Bumrah is unwell, said India captain Rohit Sharma at the toss. According to the BCCI, Bumrah has not fully recovered from "his viral illness". He was replaced by Mohd Siraj.
There was speculation on the eve of the match that Bumrah would be rested, even though both head coach Gautam Gambhir and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar denied any plans to rest senior players as India has already lost the Test series 0-.
New Zealand made two changes in the squad with Mitchell Santner, the hero of their victory in the second Test, out with a side strain along with Tim Southee. Matt Henry, who underwent a fitness test on Thursday, and Ish Sodhi came into the squad.
About their decision to bat first, Latham said they want to put runs on the board and create pressure for India.
"Reasonably good surface. Want to put runs on the board and put pressure later on. Focusing on this game. That's what we did in Pune after Bengaluru win too. But last week was last week. New opportunity in this game," said Latham during the toss.
About the change in New Zealand's fortunes since the Sri Lanka tour in which they went down 0-2, Latham said they did not play all that badly there and things can go wrong anytime in a Test match.
"It's a funny game, Test cricket. In Sri Lanka, we didn't play all that badly but you can fall on the wrong side of the results. Not much has changed here, we've kept things simple," he said.
He said the pitch looks good. "Regardless of whether batting or bowling first, it is about adjusting to the surface. We've got two changes: Santner has a side strain and Southee is out. Matt Henry and Ish Sodhi are in."
With the pitch expected to provide copious turn later in the match, India skipper Rohit Sharma said he too would have batted first.
"We'd have batted first too. We accept that we didn't play well in this series. But this is an opportunity to correct that. Hopefully, we can restrict them quickly.," he said.
He said the team is focusing on this match but has the World Test Championship final on the back of their mind.
"Right now our focus is on this Test match. On the back of the mind, you need to keep in mind about that, but right now we need to play our best cricket which we haven't this series," he said.
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