New Zealand elect to bat against India

Dambulla:

New Zealand captain Ross Taylor elected to bat after winning the toss against India in the opening match of a triangular one-day series on Tuesday.

India, having rested key players such as Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh, will also be without pacer Ishant Sharma in the lung-opener after the lanky bowler picked up an ankle injury.

New Zealand are also a depleted side, missing the services of their inspirational skipper Daniel Vettori and the explosive batting duo of Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum.

Sri Lanka is the third team in the tournament. Each side will play the other twice in the preliminary league before the top two qualify for the final on August 28.

New Zealand: Ross Taylor (capt), Martin Guptill, Peter Ingram, Kane Williamson, Scott Styris, Grant Elliott, Gareth Hopkins, Jacob Oram, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills, Daryl Tuffey.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Abhimanyu Mithun.

Umpires: Ranmore Martinesz (SRI) and Simon Taufel (AUS)

TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)

Match referee: Alan Hurst (AUS)