ENG v IND 2018: 1st Test – England and India look to make the first strike in the battle of equals

England and India will clash in a series of five Test matches.

Joe Root and Virat Kohli smile before readying for battle | Getty

England and India will play the first Test of the five-matches explosive series at the Edgbaston, Birmingham. This will also be the 1000th Test match for England, who will become the first team to reach this milestone.

British media has been constantly reminding the Indian team of their tours to England in 2011 and 2014; yet what they don’t realize is that this is the new look Indian team under the captaincy of the more aggressive Virat Kohli. England, on the other hand, also have a new captain in Joe Root and thanks to the condition in England, namely the drought and high temperatures, the pitches and conditions are expected to suit the visitors more than the home side.

This even led England to call Adil Rashid out of red ball retirement and include him in the playing XI for this Test match. India on the other side is dealing with the headache of finding a good opener to partner M Vijay. They will also have the trouble of choosing which two spinners or which lone spinner would get to play in the final XI.

England will be banking on their swing bowlers in James Anderson and Sam Curran since they believe to have some swing at Edgbaston.

The team winning the first Test will definitely have the upper hand when it comes to moving forward to the next Test in the series.

Toss:

England have won the toss and have opted to bat

Playing XIs:


England: Joe Root (C), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler (VC), Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes

India: Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 01 Aug, 2018

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