cricketPERTH: Australia won the toss and chose to bowl in the third Test against India at the WACA Ground on Friday.

The home side elected to go with a four-man pace attack, recalling.

left-armer Mitchell Starc at the expense of spinner Nathan Lyon, while Ryan Harris replaced the injured James Pattinson.

India also opted for an all-pace attack, with spinner Ravi Ashwin, the second-highest runscorer for the tourists in the series, replaced by 27-year-old medium-pacer Vinay Kumar, making his Test debut.

Australia hold a 2-0 lead in the four-Test series after convincing wins in Melbourne and Sydney.

India must win both remaining Tests to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar will again chase his elusive 100th international century, in just his third Test at the venue, where he scored a 114 on his first tour of Australia in 1992.

Tendulkar has been stranded on 99 Test and one-day international centuries since March when he scored 111 against South Africa in the World Cup.

Friday's match got under way under clear skies and in warm conditions, but there was some rain forecast for the coming days as a cyclone edges down the WA coast.

Teams:

Australia - David Warner, Ed Cowan, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Starc, Ben Hilfenhaus. Nathan Lyon (12th man).

India - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Virat Kohli, Vinay Kumar, M.S. Dhoni (capt), Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav. Rohit Sharma (12th man).

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) Kumar Dharmasena (SRI).

Video umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS).

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012

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