India vs England 1st Test Live updates: Hello and welcome to our coverage of the first Test between hosts England and India at Nottingham's Trent Bridge. Virat Kohli-led India's last Test was in the defeat to New Zealand in the ICC World Test Championship final in June. The five-Test series that starts today, will kickstart the new cycle of the WTC that runs till 2023. Stay tuned for further updates.
1st Test preview: On Wednesday, Virat Kohli-led India will begin their much-awaited Test series against hosts England, when the first of five Tests kickstarts at Nottingham's Trent Bridge.
India’s last Test was in their defeat to New Zealand in the ICC World Test Championship final at Southampton in June, and the upcoming series will kickstart the new cycle of WTC that runs till 2023.
India have been dealt with an opening conundrum ahead of the first Test. While Shubman Gill was ruled out of the series with a shin injury, the visitors were dealt with a fresh blow when Mayank Agarwal was hit on the head by a Mohammed Siraj bouncer during training on Monday. He was soon ruled out of the first Test with a pending concussion Test.
While Rohit Sharma looks set for the first opening slot, it remains to be seen who among KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara or even Hanuma Vihari will open in Agarwal’s absence. Former pacer Ashish Nehra, in an interaction with journalists recently, had backed for Rahul to open.
“Whoever plays, either if it’s Pujara or Vihari, it’s a makeshift arrangement, or I heard that the team management said on KL Rahul that they were only looking at slotting him in the middle-order, but see, we’ve seen KL Rahul in white-ball cricket, where we have seen him as an opener. So, before Vihari, why not Rahul?,” he had said.
Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma both still pose a threat to England, but Jasprit Bumrah will have up his ante in this series after disappointing in the WTC final.
While this pace trio looks set to lead the bowling attack, it remains to be seen if India could opt for a fourth pacer.
All-rounder Ben Stokes has taken a break from cricket citing mental health, while according to ESPNCricinfo, pacer Jofra Archer could miss the entire season due to an elbow injury.
James Anderson and Stuart Broad will once again look to rattle the Indian top-order, and the duo will have the support of fellow pacer Mark Wood.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav.
England: Joe Root (capt), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Dom Sibley, Mark Wood.
