Courtesy: Google
The first Test of the highly sought-after five-match series between England and India will be played at Headingley in Leeds from Friday, June 20 onwards, for the newly minted Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. While England are currently playing some of the most enterprising Test cricket the world has ever seen, under Ben Stokes’ captaincy, India are coming off the back of a humiliating winter of Test cricket home and away, which has led to Shubman Gill getting the captaincy responsibility.
England have a settled core at their disposal, including the likes of Ben Stokes, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Chris Woakes despite injuries to a couple of their fast bowlers in the build-up to the upcoming five-match Test series. On the other hand, India bid adieu to two of their greatest Test cricketers of all-time, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli last month, who retired from the longest format of the game after a tough outing on the tour to Australia at the turn of the year.
Despite many experts picking England as the favourites to win the Test series going into the first match, India have a lot of match-winners like Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj with decent success in the island nation. In the previous five-match Test series played between these two nations in England, played in 2021 and 2022, it was the Indian cricket team who registered a 2-2 draw while having the ascendancy for the most of it.
Day 1 of 1st Test at Headingley will be pleasant to a bit warm with near to no chance of rain
Talking about the weather for day one of the first Test at Headingley in Leeds, it is expected to be partly sunny and warm in the day with next to no chance of precipitation in the area, while the temperature will hit a maximum of 31°C, according to the listings on AccuWeather. The probability of precipitation on Friday, June 20, stands at 5%, with pleasant winds blowing in from the southeast.
During the upcoming day’s play, in the afternoon hours, there will be wind gusts of around 37 km/h, which is expected to blow away a passing shower quite quickly from the city of Leeds. If it is the case, then the fans could expect an uninterrupted day’s play in the England versus India first Test at Headingley.
