Hyderabad: England captain Ben Stokes has won the toss and chosen to bat first in Hyderabad. England return to India after about two and a half years and both sides have had a change of captains and coaches in the intervening period. India were led by Virat Kohli in the 2020/21 series and coached by Ravi Shastri.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were an integral part of the side. This time, both those stalwarts are out of the team while Kohli is unavailable for the first two Tests. Rohit Sharma is captain and this will be his first five-match Test series leading the side and Rahul Dravid is head coach. Apart from that, though, one can’t say that their approach has changed too much in the longest format of the game.
England have gambled on many fronts by picking three spinners for the first Test against India in Hyderabad. They have taken for granted that the pitch will turn from Day 1 and turn big. They didn’t pick James Anderson, the world’s leading wicket-taker among all pacers. With Ben Stokes not bowling, they have only four specialist bowlers with the part-time off-spin of Joe Root being the only other option. Above all, two of their three spinners have a combined experience of one Test. Tom Hartley will be on debut while leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed has just played one match in Pakistan.
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