It will be baptism by fire for the new and young Indian team under the new Test captain Shubman Gill as they test their first waters in whites against an attractive England side in a five-match series, starting Friday, June 20. England haven't been at their best in the last couple of cycles, despite all the things being said and made about their aggressive playing style and taking the game on. Failing to qualify for the WTC final even once might have started to hurt a bit for Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum and as the hosts kick off the new cycle, their first aim will be to make sure they are there and thereabouts as far as qualification is concerned.
For India, the challenge for the Gills, Jaiswals and Karun Nairs will be to step into the shoes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and take the team forward. It is a team in transition and it won't be easy but England's vulnerabilities in the bowling department might just be enough motivating factor for the tourists to put pressure on the English with the bat.
The focus and all the spotlight will be on Gill and how he performs and key for him will be to score runs and leave the captaincy burden and responsibility while batting. For England too, most of the series will depend on how their batters perform against Jasprit Bumrah and Co.
My Dream11 team for ENG vs IND 1st Test
Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, KL Rahul (c), Karun Nair, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir, Chris Woakes
Playing XIs
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
India (probable): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (w), Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna/Arshdeep Singh