Avesh Khan has been released so that he can go and play Ranji Trophy where Madhya Pradesh would be taking on Pudducherry on Friday.
Hyderabad: In what would come as a welcome move from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), pace bowler Avesh Khan has been released. He has been released so that he can go and play Ranji Trophy where Madhya Pradesh would be taking on Pudducherry on Friday. While he has been released, Rajat Patidar has been added to the squad as a replacement for Virat Kohli, who is set to miss the first two games due to ‘personal reasons’.
Meanwhile, England has won the toss during the first Test in Hyderabad and have opted to bat first.
“It’s typical conditions in India, you are not quite sure what you are going to get. We will try to post a big score on the board. The preparation has been really good. We know the challenge that India presents, not only to us but every team that comes here. They are an incredibly successful side. We have got Hartley making his debut, Rehan is playing his second Test, but they have got a great leader in Jack Leach to lead them. I have got full confidence in everyone. We picked a XI that we thought is going to give us the best chance of winning. Woody is that X-factor bowler,” Stokes said after winning the toss.
“We have played in these conditions before. We know what to expect and what we need to do, it’s all about executing your skills, backing yourself and being brave enough to take the opportunity. We’ve got three spinners and two seamers – Bumrah, Siraj, Axar, Ashwin and Jadeja. It was a tough one (to leave out Kuldeep Yadav), we thought a lot about it. Axar, whenever he had played, he has done well and bats really well in these conditions. He got some really good score the last time we played against Australia. Probably the reason we went with Axar,” Rohit said at the toss.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes(c), Ben Foakes(w), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Jack Leach
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