India 57/3 at Lunch: Toss India chose to bat v New Zealand

When New Zealand sent Ross Taylor out for the toss, it became clear Kane Williamson was unable to recover from fever and had to sit out the Kolkata Test, one his team has to win to keep the series alive. A change of captains did not address their luck with the toss; Virat Kohli won it for the sixth time in a row at home and chose to bat.

The Eden Gardens square had been relaid for the 2016-17 season and the brand new pitch sported a bit of green. Kohli expected a challenge for the batsmen against the new ball - which was why he included specialist swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the Indian XI - but was confident his team could handle it. The grass cover is probably to make sure the pitch holds together for five days. There were enough cracks on it to suggest the spinners would have fun after two or three days. Shikhar Dhawan was the "natural" replacement for the injured KL Rahul and R Ashwin was fit to play as well.

New Zealand handed a comeback to Jeetan Patel. The 36-year-old offspinner, playing in the English County Championship, had said he had left his hopes of playing international cricket behind. The last Test he played was in 2013 and he had been in Kolkata for only a "day and a bit" according to Taylor, but has pushed into the XI ahead of legspinner Ish Sodhi. Fast bowler Matt Henry has also been brought in and Henry Nicholls has been called up to fill the Williamson-shaped hole.

India were playing their 250th Test at home, and, funnily enough, all of the players in their XI had a Test half-century to their name.

India 1 M Vijay, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 9 Ravindra Jadeja, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Mohammed Shami

New Zealand 1 Tom Latham, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Henry Nicholls, 4 Ross Taylor (capt), 5 Luke Ronchi, 6 Mitchell Santner, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Jeetan Patel, 9 Neil Wagner, 10 Matt Henry, Trent Boult