India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss under cloudy skies and opted to bat first in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday. With the series tied at 1-1, the next five days in Brisbane could potentially decide the fate of the BGT series. Australia will look to build on the momentum gained in Adelaide while India will look to take inspiration from their record-breaking win in Perth. Australia opted for Josh Hazlewood, who missed the second Test due to a side strain. Scott Boland, who played an influential role for Australia with the pink ball, made way for Hazlewood. For India, Harshit Rana and Ravichandran Ashwin were replaced by right-arm seamer Akash Deep and experienced all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

After winning the toss, India captain Rohit Sharma informed about the two changes and said they wanted to make the best use of the cloudy conditions.

“We will bowl first. It’s a bit cloudy and has a bit of grass, looks a bit soft too, I want to make the most of the conditions. There is a lot of cricket being played, both teams played well. “We will do what is expected of us in the last two games. We understand that we couldn’t do that in the last game. That’s why we lost,” he said.

When asked about the atmosphere in the dressing room, Rohit said: “It is absolutely elated. The boys are looking forward to the game, we are looking forward to coming here and playing. At this point and in the conditions it looks a bit relaxed. “It’s also a bit cloudy but with time it’s getting better to bat. We made two changes: Jadeja and Akash in place of Ashwin and Harshit.

Australian captain Pat Cummins said during the toss that the Australians also bowled first.
“We would have bowled first too. It’s been a fantastic series so far. Really happy with last week, almost everyone got into the series, it was a good lead up. The preparations were pretty good. Finishing early in Adelaide made it possible for us.” “Get here early and get comfortable, Scott Boland is heading for Hazlewood,” he said.

India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep

Australia (Game XI): Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey(f), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.