Hyderabad/UNI: England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat first in the first of the five-match Test series against India at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Thursday.
India captain Rohit Sharma is playing Axar Patel as his third spinner. He will be lending support to Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
KS Bharat has been included as specialist wicketkeeper and KL Rahul has replaced Virat Kohli as No.4 batsman.
Sharma has left out Kuldeep Yadav, the fourth Indian spinner in the squad.
? Toss Update ?
England win the toss in Hyderabad and elect to bat in the 1st #INDvENG Test.
Fast bowler Avesh Khan has been released to play for his Ranji trophy team, Madhya Pradesh for their next Ranji Trophy fixture.
Rajat Patidar has joined the team as Virat Kohlis pic.twitter.com/g9TfcLZZvs
BCCI (@BCCI) January 25, 2024
We thought a lot about it. Axar, whenever he has played, he has done well and bats well in these conditions.
He got some really good scores the last time we played against Australia. Probably the reason we went with Axar, he said.
For England, Tom Hartley is making his Test debut.
The hosts are looking to bust the record of England, who havent lost a series since Stokes took charge as Test captain and Brendon McCullum as head coach.
UPDATE:England 108/3 at lunch on Day 1
Teams
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes(c), Ben Foakes(w), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Jack Leach.
