England has selected its playing XI for the first Test against India, which begins on Friday, June 20 at Headingley. Durham seamer Brydon Carse will play his first Test match at home, and all-rounder Chris Woakes will play red-ball cricket for the first time since December. Carse has previously played for the Three Lions in five Test matches, all of which were played away from home in Pakistan and New Zealand. A strong lineup will be led by Ben Stokes.
The hosts have kept their regular openers, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, in place to maintain their ‘Bazball’ offensive strategy. Joe Root will arrive at number four, followed by Ollie Pope at number three. Jacob Bethell is not selected for the first Test, and Harry Brook is ranked No. 5.
Chris Woakes, Carse, and Josh Tongue will make up Stokes & Co.’s three-pace attack going into the game, with Stokes serving as the team’s true fourth option. The only spinner assigned to manage India’s batting lineup will be Shoaib Bashir. The captain will want to take the lead in the match as England’s bowling attack seems a little underpowered.
England playing XI for the first Test against India:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
At the pre-match news conference in Leeds, India’s vice-captain Rishabh Pant affirmed that Shubman Gill will bat at number four going forward in red-ball cricket. Gill replaces Virat Kohli, who held the role for a long time. In the Indian batting order, Pant will remain at number five.
India squad for first Test vs England:
Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, B Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Mohammed Siraj
