England captain Joe Root has won the toss in the first Test in Chennai and opted to bat first against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. India captain Virat Kohli said that he would have also chosen to bat first had he won the toss.
Hours before the toss, the BCCI confirmed that the Indian cricket team had been dealt a blow as all-rounder Axar Patel, who was the likely replacement for the injured Ravindra Jadeja, was ruled out of the first Chennai Test due to a niggle.
Axar complained of pain on his left knee and spinners Shahbaz Nadeem and Rahul Chahar have been added to the squad.
India, who announced that they will be playing Rishabh Pant over Wriddhiman Saha as the wicket-keeper batsman in the first Test have gone in with three spinners and two pacers for this Test.
India have brought in the veteran Ishant Sharma, who returns from a long injury layoff instead of Mohammed Siraj, and Shahbaz Nadeem along with Jasprit Bumrah, R Ashwin and Washington Sundar.
This is the first international cricket match that is being played in India since the coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a screeching halt early last year.
For England, the first Test in Chennai is captain Joe Root’s 100th and Jos Buttler’s 50th. This is also Jasprit Bumrah’s first Test match on home soil.
India XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah
England XI: Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Daniel Lawrence, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), Dominic Bess, Jofra Archer, Jack Leach, James Anderson
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