The much-anticipated India tour of England is slated to begin on Friday, June 20, at Headingley in Leeds. Ahead of that, England have already released their playing XI and there were no surprises, barring that the team management has put their faith in Ollie Pope ahead of Jacob Bethell, who scored three back-to-back half-centuries against New Zealand late last year. Their bowling attack, meanwhile, looks pale without James Anderson and Stuart Broad in it.
On top of that, even Gus Atkinson is out with an injury in his right leg, while the other pacers, except Chris Woakes, don’t have enough experience. Despite so, it's the Indian team that might be under pressure in the first Test. The Men in Blue will miss the service of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin, three of their biggest matchwinners in the last decade. All three of them retired from Test cricket and replacing them will be a tough job.
Shubman Gill has been named the new Test captain but his record in England is extremely concerning, as the cricketer averages only 14.66. However, in the pre-match press conference, he sounded optimistic when Gill mentioned that he wants to be the best batter in the series. Meanwhile, vice-captain Rishabh Pant confirmed that Gill will be batting at number four, which leaves the door open for the number three spot.
Currently, three cricketers - Karun Nair, Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran are in the race for it. However, most likely, Nair is expected to play at three, as he was spotted fielding in the slip cordon. Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul are expected to open. In case India want to play an extra batter, Dhruv Jurel can feature at number six, followed by Ravindra Jadeja and either Shardul Thakur or Nitish Reddy.
Headingley, Leeds, Pitch Report
Like any other English ground, the surface at Headingley will initially support the pacers. A green covering was spotted, but it needs to be seen if the curators crop that one, or keep it just like that. With time, the conditions will get better and support the batters. Since the weather in Leeds is hot and humid, the batters will enjoy their time in the middle as the surface will get better by Day 2. Bowling first will be the ideal thing to do.