Pune: Australian skipper Steven Smith won the toss and opted to bat in the first Test of the four-match rubber against India at the MCA stadium here this morning.
While the visiting side will be playing with two spinners and same number of pacers, hosts captain Virat Kohli has included Jayant Yadav as the third spinner beside R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on a dry Pune wicket.
Medium pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar will be missing from the playing eleven while Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma have been included.The Kohli-led Team India are unbeaten in the last 19 games.
Australia: David Warner, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (c), Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Wade (wk), Mitchell Starc, Steve O’Keefe, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon.(UNI)