The starting lineup for England’s opening Test match against India at Headingley, which begins on Friday, June 20, has been revealed. Durham seamer Brydon Carse will play his first Test match at home, and all-rounder Chris Woakes will play red-ball cricket for the first time since December. Carse has previously played for the Three Lions in five Test matches, all of which were played away from home in Pakistan and New Zealand. A strong lineup will be led by Ben Stokes.
In keeping with the ‘Bazball’ concept, the hosts have kept their normal openers, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, to maintain their attacking strategy. Joe Root will arrive at number four, followed by Ollie Pope at number three. Jacob Bethell is not selected for the first Test, and Harry Brook is ranked No. 5.
Woakes, Carse, and Josh Tongue will make up Stokes & Co.’s three-pace attack going into the game, with Stokes serving as the team’s true fourth option. The only spinner assigned to manage India’s batting lineup will be Shoaib Bashir. The captain will want to take the lead in the match as England’s bowling attack seems a little underpowered.
England’s starting lineup for the opening Test match against India:
Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir, Ellie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, and Joe Root
In the meantime, India’s vice-captain Rishabh Pant announced at the pre-match news conference in Leeds that Shubman Gill will now bat at No. 4 in red-ball cricket. Gill replaces Virat Kohli, who held the role for a long time. In the Indian batting order, Pant will remain at number five.
Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, B Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Mohammed Siraj are the Indian team for their first Test match against England.
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