Picture Credit: X/@BCCI
The Shubman Gill-led Team India is all set to lock horns with England in a highly-anticipated five-match Test series, starting from Friday, June 20. While the Men in Blue will be without the veteran trio of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin, a lot will be on the shoulders of experienced players including KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
For the unversed, as the two skippers took the field, it was the home side skipper, Ben Stokes, who won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Headingley in Leeds. The decision from the home side came seeing the pitch assist pacers with spin coming in later in the game. “We'll bowl. Headingley is a very good cricket wicket, we've had some really good games here,” Stokes said.
Sai Sudharsan makes Test debut; to bat at number three
England’s red-ball skipper then confirmed their combination for the first Test which sees five bowling options, namely, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir, Josh Tongue and the skipper himself. Thereafter, Shubman Gill, who is the 37th Test captain of Team India, also confirmed his decision to pick bowling if he would have won the toss.
Later, when inquired by Ravi Shastri about the team combination, Shubman Gll confirmed Sai Sudharsan’s Test debut, while reiterating Karun Nair’s return after seven long years. “Would've bowled first as well, might be a bit tough in the first session but it should be good to bat on later. Sun is out, should be a good batting deck for us. Preperation has been amazing, we played a practice game in Beckenham, lads are feeling great. Sai makes his debut, Karun comes in,” Gill said.
When asked of Sudharsan’s batting position after star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant earlier confirmed Gill to bat at number four, the skipper said, “Sai will bat at three”.
England vs India first Test Playing XI
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
