After the end of the limited-overs series, the hosts England and the visitors India has started to play the Test series from Wednesday (August 1). England captain Joe Root decided to bat first after winning the toss in the first Test of the five-match Test series at Edgbaston (Birmingham).
It is England’s 1000th Test match and they are the first team to achieve this feat. From the 13-man squad for the first Test, pacer Jamie Porter and all-rounder Moeen Ali only miss out in the playing XI.
On the other hand, Indian skipper Virat Kohli took some bold decision for the first Test. While the left-handed Shikhar Dhawan has been selected as the opening partner of Murali Vijay, struggling Cheteshwar Pujara has been replaced by in-form KL Rahul.
Expectedly, Dinesh Karthik has been selected as the wicketkeeper over the young Rishabh Pant. However, Kohli chooses the experienced off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin over the in-form young left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav. Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma are the Indian pacers for the first Test along with the pace all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
Among the 18-member Test squad, Indian skipper Kohli dropped – Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Karun Nair, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shardul Thakur, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav – from the first Test.
Playing XI
England: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (c), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.
India: Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma.
Breaking: Pujara will sit out #IndvEng
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) August 1, 2018
India in Tests with/without Cheteshwar Pujara….
with – win% 56.90 (58 Tests, 33 wins, 12 lost, drawn 13)
without – win% 26.09 (23 Tests, 6 wins, 10 lost, drawn 7)#EngvInd#IndvEng— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) August 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/swing_seam/status/1024589388506836992
That's a big call, leaving out Pujara. Rahul playing is the right decision though, but could he have opened? #INDvENG
— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) August 1, 2018
No Asian side has ever beaten England in a Test at Edgbaston (Birmingham).
Can India create history?#ENGvIND #INDvENG— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) August 1, 2018
So Pujara dumped. Kohli obviously keen to play Rahul and disinclined to fiddle with the opening pair of Dhawan and Vijay
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) August 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/SirJadejaaaa/status/1024596992826195968
Arun Lal – Kohli the reason behind dropping Jadeja and taking Pandya is ?
Kohli – to maintain the balance
AL – How ?
Kohli -well Ashwin will create pressure and then Pandya will come n release it..
so it'll be a balanced situation #INDvENG— Arun Lol (@dhaikilokatweet) August 1, 2018
All the best to Team India as the boys don the white Jersey and the action moves to Red ball cricket. Lets create history. All the best ✌️ @BCCI #INDvENG
— Siddharthh Kaul (@iamsidkaul) August 1, 2018
karun nair ko sirf sabke room me nahane ka garm paani pahuchane ke liye le gaye hain.
😂😂#INDvENG— Kuptaan 🇮🇳 (@Kuptaan) August 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/Sajjanlaunda/status/1024592095120506881
As I said with Dhawan playing it is hard on Pujara. But that’s Test cricket. Dhawan needs to make this count. He will bat day 2 which will be the best batting conditions. Today let the 3 fast bowlers deliver. @cricketaakash @DeepDasgupta7
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) August 1, 2018
