Ahmedabad, Nov 4 (IANS): India won the toss and decided to bat against New Zealand in the first of the three-match Test series here Thursday.

Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara, who played key roles in India's win in the last match of the Australia Test series, have to sit out. V.V.S. Laxman and Gautam Gambhir make a comeback. S. Sreesanth has been picked ahead of Ishant Sharma.

Kane Williamson and Hamish Bennett make their Test debut for New Zealand.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicket-keeper), Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, V.V.S Laxman, Pragyan Ojha, Suresh Raina, S. Sreesanth.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (captain), Brendon McCullum, Tim McIntosh, BJ Watling, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Kane Williamson, Gareth Hopkins (wicket-keeper), Jeetan Patel, Hamish Bennett, Chrish Martin.

Umpires: Steve Davis (Australia) and Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka)
TV umpire: Shavir Tarapore
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka)