India win toss and bat against Sri Lanka in opening test

India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first in the opening match of the two-test home series against Sri Lanka in Mohali on Friday.

India drafted in batters Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer into the side for the match, replacing the experienced duo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane who were dropped for inconsistent performances.

The test match in the northern Indian city is the 100th in the format for batting mainstay Virat Kohli, who stepped down as captain following the team's 2-1 defeat in South Africa in their previous series.

"It's important for us to put the runs on the board and take the game from there," said opening batter Rohit, who replaced Kohli as India's new test captain.

Wicketkeeper-batter Niroshan Dickwella returned to the Sri Lankan side for the first time after his one-year suspension for breaching the team's bio-bubble COVID protocols during the 2021 tour of England was lifted in January.

Dimuth Karunaratne, leading Sri Lanka in their 300th test match, said he would have batted first as well.

"Even though we have three seamers this is a pretty good wicket to bat on," said Karunaratne, who also opens the batting for his side.

Teams:

India - Rohit Sharma (captain), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah

Sri lanka - Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), Lahiru Thirimanne, Pathum Nissanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Shri Navaratnam)