Birmingham: England captain Ben Stokes has won the toss and elected to bowl first against India in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston on Friday, with the visitors leading the series 2-1. The match at Edgbaston also marks Bumrah’s captaincy debut in international cricket, making him the 36th player to lead India in Test cricket.
After winning the toss, Stokes reconfirmed that veteran pacer James Anderson comes in for Craig Overton from their win over New Zealand at Headingley apart from Sam Billings retaining his place as wicketkeeper Ben Foakes hasn’t recovered from Covid-19.
“We’ve done well chasing and it’s also to see how the wicket will behave. It’s obviously good to come into a new series so quickly. Gives us the opportunity to keep the momentum rolling. We’re going to keep the same attitude going.”
India skipper Jasprit Bumrah said Cheteshwar Pujara will open the batting alongside Shubman Gill as regular captain Rohit Sharma is out due to Covid-19 and that they are sticking to the combination of four pacers (Bumrah himself, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur) plus lone spinner in all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, which means Ravichandran Ashwin is not in the playing eleven.
“It’s a good feeling (to be captain) and is a big privilege. Can’t get better than this. Excited and looking forward to this. Very happy with the preparation. Wanted to spend a lot of time and get used to the English conditions, as we came back from T20s. Happy with the preparation, now it’s for the mental side to take over,” stated Bumrah.
Playing XIs:
England: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (captain), Sam Billings (wicketkeeper), Matthew Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach and James Anderson.
India: Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah (captain).
(IANS)
