India vs England, 3rd Test, Toss Update: Virat Kohli opts to bat first at Headingley; India remain unchanged

Leeds, August 25: India captain Virat Kohli won his first toss of the series as the coin landed in his favour in the third Test against England here at Headingley on Wednesday (August 25). Soon after winning the toss, Kohli said he's going to bat first on a pitch that looks good for batting.

Kohli informed that Team India has fielded the same playing eleven, which helped the tourists win the previous Test at Lord's. England, on the other hand, have made a couple of changes to their playing eleven by bringing in Dawid Malan and Craig Everton in the playing XI.

After winning the toss, Kohli said, "It's a surprise I've won (the toss). We're batting first. Looks firm and without grass and runs on the board will set this up. We're going in with the same XI."

When asked if he contemplated including Ravichandran Ashwin in the playing eleven, Kohli said, "We thought about getting Ashwin in, and the pressure of the extra seamer in these conditions is crucial. Jadeja will bowl a lot more overs because the conditions are suited to him. You can lay down markers and culture, but it's up to the boys to take it up and win from pressure situations. It's all about handling pressure at the highest level. It's the toughest place to bat for the openers, and KL and Rohit have done a good job. Hopefully, they can continue."

Talking about his personal form with the bat and if there's a big knock around the corner, Kohli said, "About my batting, I'll try to make an impact for the team with the bat. I believe in my process and sometimes it doesn't really come off on the field, but I'm more concerned about how much of an impact I have on the team's performance."

It has been 640 days since Kohli scored a ton in Test cricket.

After losing the toss, Joe Root said, "There's a bit of cloud cover and it's tacky, and it'll get better and better for batting eventually. Quite happy to lose the toss."

Talking about the changes England made in the side for this game, Root said, "Malan comes in for Sibley and Overton comes in for Wood. Overton was picked on the conditions. Saqib was great in the white-ball format, but Overton continuously performs in county cricket so we've picked him, even though it was a difficult choice to make. We need our openers to get us to a good start. It's one of the hardest things to open in England, as Virat said, and the openers have the temperament to get us off to a good start."

Playing XIs:

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

England: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root(c), Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.