England vs India 1st Test - Fantasy Cricket Tips, Key Players, Probable XIs, Captain, Vice-Captain & More

Preview:

England (ENG) are set to take on India (IND) in the first Test of the five-match series at the Headingley in Leeds from Friday, June 20 onwards. Over the past year or so, England have been playing fantastic cricket in the Test format under their captain Ben Stokes, while Shubman Gill has been given the reins of the Indian Test team after the retirement of their stalwart from the format while being in the leadership role recently.

While England are going to start as favourites in the five-match Test series due to playing in their home conditions, the Indian lineup has a few star players who were a part of the 2-2 drawn series last time on the English shores three years ago. Let’s have a look at fantasy cricket tips, pitch report, probable XIs, captain, vice captain and more ahead of the England versus India first Test match.

ENG vs IND Match Details

ENG vs IND Head-to-Head Stats & Records

England have played each other a whopping 136 times in Test cricket against India, keeping an upper hand over them with a 51-35 win-loss record. In their home nation, England’s record is even better against India with a 36-9 win-loss record, but still, the visitors will take confidence in the fact that they drew their last series in the country in 2022.

ENG vs IND Pitch Report

The pitches at the Headingley in Leeds are generally quite good for bowling with the new ball in Tests, just like any other England ground, but it does allow free strokeplay for players if they manage to survive the initial tough phase. Over the years, in the 84 Tests played at this venue, the teams batting first have won 29, while the teams bowling first have won 36. The average first innings total in Test cricket here is 298, which drastically goes down to 165 runs in the fourth innings.

ENG vs IND Probable Playing XIs

England: Ben Stokes (c), Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook (vc), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir (Playing XI is confirmed)

India: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj

England vs India Full Squads

ENG: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope (wk), Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Sam Cook, Jamie Overton

IND: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana

ENG vs IND, 1st Test : Top Captaincy and Vice-Captaincy Picks

Harry Brook (Last 6 Test innings)

Jasprit Bumrah (Last 5 Test innings)

ENG vs IND, 1st Test: Top Players to pick

Joe Root: Joe Root has a whopping 10 hundreds against India in the longest format of the game, and he will look to continue his form against them this summer as well, making him a great option of keeping regularly in the fantasy team.

Chris Woakes: Chris Woakes has a wealth of experience of not only bowling, but batting exceedingly well in Tests in English conditions, and that’s more of an occurrence against India in the format.

Rishabh Pant: Rishabh Pant, who began his Test career in England seven years ago, has a lot of experience of playing in English conditions, which will come quite handy for India.

ENG vs IND, 1st Test: Player to avoid

Shoaib Bashir: Shoaib Bashir is the right-arm off spinner, and in Headingley, the role of the spin bowlers is limited, which is why he could be avoided in the fantasy team.

ENG vs IND Fantasy Team 1 (Grand League)

Wicketkeepers: Rishabh Pant, Jamie Smith

Batters: Karun Nair, Shubman Gill, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook

All-Rounders: Nitish Kumar Reddy, Joe Root

Bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse

ENG vs IND Fantasy Team 2 (Head-To-Head)

Wicketkeeper: Rishabh Pant

Batters: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ben Duckett, Harry Brook

All-Rounders: Joe Root, Ben Stokes

Bowlers: Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse

Disclaimer: The fantasy tips and facts expressed within this article are the author's personal opinions. They do not reflect the views of SportsTiger. It is not a reflection of the actual points you might earn. SportsTiger does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.