BENGALURU, India (AP) — Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss Thursday and decided to bat first in the rain-affected opening cricket Test against New Zealand.

Persistent rain prevented any play on the first day Wednesday after heavy rain in the previous 48 hours. But the game started on time on Thursday under cloudy and threatening skies and under lights at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

“We want to put runs on the board,” Sharma said after the toss. His New Zealand counterpart Tom Latham also said he would have batted now that the test has been reduced to four days.

India have made two changes to their XI from the last Test, with Shubman Gill and Akash Deep missing and replaced by Sarfaraz Khan and Kuldeep Yadav. New Zealand opted for three Seamers along with Ajaz Patel’s spin as Mitchell Santner missed.

India top the World Test Championship rankings and a 3-0 win in this series against New Zealand would all but secure their place in the final at Lord’s next June.

After beating Bangladesh 2-0 in the previous Test series, an all-India squad was once again available for selection.

New Zealand has already had a long subcontinental tour. It started with a failed Test against Afghanistan in Greater Noida, India, followed by a 2-0 loss in Sri Lanka.

The second Test will be played in Pune from October 24 and the third from November 1 in Mumbai.

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Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

New Zealand: Tom Latham (captain), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William O’Rourke

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AP Cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket