India win toss: elect to bat: Vijay, Krejza to make debuts

Nagpur, Nov 6 (UNI) Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today won the toss and elected to bat first in the fourth and final Test against Australia being played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium, Jamtha, on the outskirts of the city here today. This is the first ever Test match being played at this spanking new stadium.

India are leading the four Test match series 1-0 with this being the last Test.

The hosts meanwhile, gave M Vijay his first Test cap replacing Gautam Gambhir who has been banned by the ICC for elbowing Shane Watson in the last Test at Delhi, while Harbhajan Singh comes in place of the now retired Anil Kumble.

Australia meanwhile, made one change to their side that played in Delhi with off spinner Jason Kerjza coming in place of Stuart Clark. This means the Aussies are playing two spinners for the first time in this series.

This Test will also see a lot of landmarks being crossed, with this being Sourav Ganguly's last Test match, having announced his retirement earlier, while this is also V V S Laxman's 100 Test match, becoming the eighth Indian player to have crossed this landmark. The others are Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.

This Test will also give Harbhajan Singh an opportunity to entire the elite club of bowlers having claimed 300 or more wickets, with the off spinner just one short of the mark. He would be the third Indian after Anil Kumble and Kapil Dev to have reached this landmark.

Sachin Tendulkar also has a record waiting with him being on 99 catches and one more catch would see him complete 100 catches.

The teams: India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c, w-k), Virender Sehwag, M Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma.

Australia: Matthew Hayden, Simon Katich, Rickey Ponting (c), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (w-k), Brett Lee, Cameroon White, Mitchell Johnson, Jason Krejza.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Billy Bowden (New Zealand) Third umpire: Suresh Shastri (India) Match Referee: Chris Board (England).

UNI GS NC RK0945