England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bowl first in the first Test against India at Headingly in Leeds on Friday. India hand debut to Sai Sudharsan while Karun Nair makes a comeback to the Test side after eight long years as the visitors go with three seamers in Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
England had already announced their playing XI a day before. After the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, there was always a question mark on who will occupy the No.3 spot in Tests, considering Cheteshwar Pujara is not being considered anymore.
The suspense ended when the Saurashtra batter handed over the Test 317th cap to Tamil Nadu’s Sudharsan, who is coming after a prolific Indian Premier League (IPL) and domestic season. Sudharsan’s Test debut meant Abhimanyu Easwaran’s wait for an India cap continues.
All-rounder Shardul Thakur will add the fourth seamer’s option to the Indian team probably at no.8. India captain Shubman Gill confirmed at the toss that Sudharsan will bat at the no.3 slot. Earlier, vice-captain Rishabh Pant had confirmed that Gill will bat at no. 4.
India vs England 1st Test session timings
The Test match will be played in three sessions with the first session running from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM IST. It will be followed by a lunch break until 6:10 PM IST.
The second starts at 6:10 PM IST and will go on till 8:10 PM IST, followed by a 20-minute Tea break. The final session of the day starts from 8:30 PM and will continue till 10:30 PM IST.
India vs England playing XIs for 1st Test
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
