India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] won the toss and elected to bowl first in the second One-Day International against Australia in Kochi on Tuesday.

The start of play, at the Nehru stadium, was delayed by half an hour because of a damp outfield as a result of Monday's heavy rain.

The umpires, after inspecting the pitch at 0900 IST, ruled that play could commence at 0930 IST.

India made a couple of changes to the side that played in the washed-out first ODI in Bangalore, including Harbhajan Singh [Images] for R P Singh, while Robin Uthappa replaced Sourav Ganguly [Images], who has been forced to sit out of the match because of the hamstring injury he sustained in the first ODI.

Australia retained the team that played in Bangalore.

India: Sachin Tendulkar [Images], Gautam Gambhir [Images], Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh [Images], Rahul Dravid [Images], Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Irfan Pathan [Images], Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar Zaheer Khan [Images], Sreesanth [Images].

Australia: Adam Gilchrist [Images] (capt), Matthew Hayden [Images], Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke [Images], Andrew Symonds [Images], Brad Haddin, James Hopes, Brad Hogg [Images], Brett Lee [Images], Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark.