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The highly-anticipated India tour of England kickstarted with the first Test at Headingley in Leeds on Friday, June 20. With the onset of the English summer, the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2025-27 also commenced. For the unversed, England’s red-ball captain, Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bowl first.
However, his decision came seeing the pitch on offer, The Three Lions went with five bowling options, consisting of Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir and their skipper. To everyone’s surprise, all-rounder Jacob Bethell and fast bowler Sam Cook did not get named in the XI despite being named in the 14-man squad earlier.
Jacob Bethell and Sam Cook released from England squad after Headingley Test snub
Seeing their omission from the playing XI, Bethell and Cook have reportedly been released from the squad. If reports are to be believed, both players will return to play in the County Championship to maintain red-ball form and fitness. It is to be noted that Jacob Bethell plays for Warwickshire, whereas Cook will be seen in action for Essex.
The two English players would look to continue performing at the domestic level before rejoining the side for the games to come. Speaking of the first Test, which is underway at Headingley in Leeds, after being put to bat first, India posted 359/3 at stumps on Day 1. Yashasvi Jasiwal and KL Rahul stitched a 91-run stand for the opening wicket, the former also went onto hit a century (101 off 159). At the moment, skipper Shubman Gill (127* off 175) is joined by Rishabh Pant (65* off 102) in the middle.
England vs India first Test Playing XI
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
