England Announces Playing XI for First Test against India

The England cricket team has recently announced their plying XI for the series opener game in the five-match Test series against India.

Cricket news: Rashid gets selected while Buttler is named the vice-captain of the series

The first Test will begin from August 1 and will be played at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Adil Rashid will make a comeback to the Test squad after playing in whites for his country last time in December 2016.

Rashid will be the sole spinner as Moeen Ali and Jamie Porter are benched for the opening game. Jos Buttler will act as the deputy to skipper Joe Root.

According to the England Cricket Board (ECB), skipper Root has confirmed the playing XI for the opening game. The batting will be opened by former captain Alastair Cook along with Keaton Jennings.

They will be then followed by skipper Root at number 3 and then Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes will come next.

Jos Buttler will bat at number 7 who will be followed by the pacers. Sam Curran, the young pace bowler who debuted against Pakistan, managed to keep his place in the squad.

Adil Rashid’s inclusion to the squad has by far been the talk of the series. He came back to the squad following his recent success in limited overs cricket.

The way he took the wicket of the opponent captain Virat Kohli in the final ODI game proved to be a huge catalyst for his selection to the team.

He hasn’t played County championship for Yorkshire and has not featured in red-ball cricket this season and it will be interesting to see how well he performs.

As only one spinner is included in the squad, skipper Root might have to bowl a few overs if the pitch assisted spinners. However England will mainly depend on the pace department to pick up the 20 wickets.

England’s playing XI for the first Test:

Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (c), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (vc), Sam Curran, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Adil Rashid