The coin fell in favour of Australia at the toss on Thursday in Nagpur, and the visiting team's captain Pat Cummins had no hesitation in telling India skipper Rohit Sharma that his team will bat first in the opening Test of the four-match series for the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
LIVE UPDATES - DAY 1
The Indian team included two debutants -- Suryakumar Yadav and KS Bharat -- in their playing XI, with Australia handing out the Baggy Green to off-spinner Todd Murphy.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri handed out the India caps, while Australia spinner and a member of the playing XI, Nathan Lyon presented the Baggy Green to Murphy.
In a first, the BCCI invited both Suryakumar and Bharat's families to come inside the ground and watch the Test cap presentation ceremony.
Head coach Rahul Dravid congratulated and shook hands with the family members of both the India players.
It may be recalled that Bharat had donned the gloves for India in place of Wriddhiman Saha on day 3 of the first Test between India and New Zealand in Kanpur in 2021, after the Bengal gloveman had suffered a stiffness in his neck.
It's the first instance since 1988 that two off-spinners, Lyon and Murphy, are in an Australian playing eleven in Test cricket.
PLAYING XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.
Australia: Pat Cummins (c) David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and Scott Boland.
