Daijiworld Media Network
Mohali, Mar 15: Let's start the day with some good news. It's bright and sunny at the moment and the better news is that it's expected to stay that way. The series between India and Australia resumes after a frustrating day of no action yesterday.
Australia have won the toss and elected to bat.
A reminder that the Australian eleven has already been picked. Here it is - Warner, Cowan, Clarke, Hughes, Smith, Haddin, Henriques, Siddle, Starc, Lyon, Doherty. No news about the Indian team, apart from the fact that Dhawan will make his debut. It's likely that India will be unchanged, but let's wait for Dhoni to say that.
What a moment for Shikhar Dhawan. Sachin Tendulkar hands over his Test cap to him. He's the second Indian player to make his debut in this series. The first one was Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who got his cap from Ishant Sharma.
Dhoni: 'Looks like a good track, it will assist the spinners later on. Maybe there will be a bit for our pacers initially as the pitch has been under covers. The amount of workload the bowlers have gone through is large. We had a break which is always good. It's a different looking Mohali surface, we don't see a wicket like this here too often. It's important to carry forward the momentum in the series. It's a fresh start. Dhawan and Ojha are in for Sehwag and Harbhajan. '
Clarke: 'Third time lucky with the toss. I'm hoping that we've learnt from the first two Tests. It has been a big week for Australian cricket. The break allowed us to freshen up, both mentally and physically. We have to make runs in our first innings, that's the most crucial thing.'
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma
Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Ed Cowan, Michael Clarke(c), Phillip Hughes, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin(w), Moises Henriques, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Xavier Doherty, Nathan Lyon