England won the toss and opted to bat first against India in the series opener against India at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
While there were very few surprises in England’s playing XI, announced a day before the England vs India first Test match, the Indian playing XI made a few jaws drop.
India’s specialist no.3 Cheteshwar Pujara was shown the door to accommodate KL Rahul in the playing XI. India head coach Ravi Shastri did indicate that Rahul may bat in top four but that would come in Pujara’s expense, that too in the first Test match of the tour, was surprising to say the least.
The surprises don’t end there. Dismissing all the talks of trying to cripple England with spin, India have decided to take the field with only one spinner – Ravichandran Ashwin – and have decided to go with their three best seamers Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav with Hardik Pandya as fourth seam bowling option.
“The conditions are overcast, we want to make the most of it. There's always excitement and anticipation, it's a long series and we are well prepared. We are comfortable with our skill-sets. I think we have the bowlers for this pitch, we need to focus on our skills, need to play positively and get the results,” said Kohli.
India (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma
England (Playing XI): Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root(c), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow(w), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson