1st T20I: Rohit Rested, Bhuvneshwar & Pant Return; India Bat 1st

Shikhar Dhawan gets the nod ahead of Rohit Sharma, who has been rested for the first T20I. 

Image: BCCI

England captain Eoin Morgan has won the toss and opted to field first in the first T20I against India in Ahmedabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Indian captain Virat Kohli said he would have probably bowled first as well.

India have rested Rohit Sharma for the first couple of games and Shikhar Dhawan will open with KL Rahul. India have also brought back Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is returning after an injury layoff. Rishabh Pant, in good form recently in Tests, has also been brought back into the side.

The hosts remember are without Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja for this series.

Hardik Pandya has also confirmed that he will be back to bowling again.

“It's been almost one and half months since I have been preparing in this format - it's going to be important with the World T20 coming up. You will see me bowling in this series,” Hardik said.

“Probably would have bowled first as well. Dew is going to be a massive factor in the second half. Got to get into the game with the ball and restrict them to a chaseable score. We were planning to do things like batting first in these conditions where bowling in the dew becomes a factor. It's a good way to prepare for the World Cup. The next few months will be important from a team environment. Rohit is resting for the first couple of games,” Kohli said at the toss.

The Indian skipper needs only 72 more runs to become the first batsman to complete 3,000 runs in T20 international cricket.

“We're going to have a bowl. Looks a good wicket with a covering of grass. A little bit of dew later on. Going to be an evenly-poised contest. The opportunity to play in India against a very strong side with the World Cup later this year, we're really excited. The key is to evolve in our game. Five T20Is at this ground, it's going to turn at some stage and we have to be smarter. That's one aspect of our game that we're trying to evolve,” Morgan said at the toss.

India XI: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal

England XI: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan(c), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood