England [Images] skipper Kevin Pietersen [Images] won the toss and chose to bat first against India in the third one-day international in Kanpur on Thursday.

The start was delayed by 45 minutes due to hazy conditions, reducing play to 49-overs per side. The forecast is for showers during the day.

England dropped pace spearhead Steve Harmison and picked off spinner Graeme Swann as the second spinner, for his first game of the series in the only change from the previous game.

Harmison took just three wickets at over 41 runs apiece in the first two games, the hosts having won both easily to lead the seven-match series. India recalled fast bowler Ishant Sharma after his recovery from an ankle injury, replacing left-armer RP Singh in the only change from the previous game.

Teams:

England: Kevin Pietersen (captain), Ian Bell [Images], Ravi Bopara [Images], Paul Collingwood [Images], Andrew Flintoff [Images], Owais Shah, Samit Patel, Matt Prior [Images], Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad [Images], James Anderson [Images].

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] (captain), Gautam Gambhir [Images], Virender Sehwag [Images], Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh [Images], Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh [Images], Zaheer Khan [Images], Munaf Patel [Images], Ishant Sharma