India bat first in Indore, Starc and Green return for Australia

INDORE, India : India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss for the first time in the home series against Australia and elected to bat in the third test against the beleaguered tourists in Indore on Wednesday.

Steve Smith is leading Australia in the absence of regular captain Pat Cummins who has returned home in Sydney to be with his ailing mother.

Mitchell Starc recovered from a finger injury to replace Cummins in the pace attack, while a fit-again Cameron Green walked in for opener David Warner, who returned home having fractured his elbow in the second test in New Delhi.

India won in Nagpur and New Delhi, both inside three days, to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series for the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

"The wicket looks pretty dry, no surprise Rohit decided to bat first," Smith said at toss with Australia persisting with three spinners.

"Obviously disappointing the way we ended our last test match.

"Guys had a bit of time to reflect and rest and then get back into some really good preparation here.

"Hopefully we can put some of the things we've practised into play out in the middle under pressure."

India replaced out-of-form opener KL Rahul with the promising Shubman Gill and rested Mohammed Shami bringing in Umesh Yadav.

Rohit said they would like to maintain the winning spree, especially when one more victory would seal their place in the final of the World Test Championship in June.

"We are not there yet, so we got to win this game, do well like we did in the last two games, try and repeat those things to get the results we want," Rohit said.

The final test is scheduled in Ahmedabad from March 9.

Teams:

India: Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma (captain), Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat