Daniel Vettori wins toss, puts India in to bat in third Test

Wellington, April 3 (IANS) New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori won the toss and asked India to bat in the third cricket Test here at the Basin Reserve Friday.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is back to lead the Indian side and also to keep wickets in place of Dinesh Karthik. That is the only change from the side that drew the second Test at Napier after following on.

New Zealand again made two changes - fast bowler Tim Southee coming in for off-spinner Jeetan Patel and fit-again batsman Daniel Flynn replacing Jaimie How.

Vettori said he had decided to field because he felt there could be something for the bowlers early on and wanted to exploit the conditions in the first session.

Dhoni, who said he would have batted had he won the toss, however, felt that Vettori's decision was an attacking one.

The Indian captain said he was not hundred percent fit, but decided to play since the medical tests did not pinpoint why he had been having back spasms.

The teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar,Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel. 12th man: Dinesh Karthik

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (captain), Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, James Franklin, Brendon McCullum (wicketkeeper), Tim Southee, Iain O'Brien, Chris Martin. 12th man: Jeetan Patel

Umpires: Simon Taufel (Australia) and Daryl Harper (Australia). TV umpire: Tony Hill (New Zealand).

Match referee: Alan Hurst (Australia).