India to Bat; Pujara, Raina in

Hyderabad: Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat against New Zealand in the first Test at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The Indian team is returning to Test action after a gap of seven months, which was preceded by two disastrous Test series.

After being drubbed 0-4 in England that stripped India off their No. 1 Test status, an identical rout followed in Australia.

Having slipped to No. 5 in less than a year's time in Test rankings, Indian youngsters would be keen bring the team back on track during the home stretch before next year's South Africa tour.

World No. 8 New Zealand, however, are excepted to give a perfect chance to India seniors to get over the England and Australia blues.

Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium strip promises to offer something for the spinners, especially after it was criticised when it last hosted the same opponents in November 2010 that saw a drab draw with Harbhajan Singh slamming an unbeaten century.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt & wk), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav.

New Zealand: Ross Taylor (Capt), Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Flynn, Kane Williamson, James Franklin, Kruger van Wyk (wk), Doug Bracewell, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin, Trent Boult

Scores	Upcoming	Results
Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan - 3rd ODI 3rd ODI - South Africa v Pakistan - December 22, 12:00 GMT 4th Test - Australia v India - December 26-30, 23:30 GMT 3rd T20I - West Indies v Bangladesh at St Vincent Bangladesh won by 80 runs 2nd ODI - South Africa v Pakistan at Cape Town Pakistan won by 81 runs

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