Upbeat India gear up for ‘Bazball’ challenge in Test series opener

Team India will want to prove their worth and take on the mighty England cricket team in the first Test of the five-match series, beginning on January 25th in Hyderabad. In a crucial contest that will be shaping up the fate of the World Test Championship for both the sides, the hosts will be hoping to extract the maximum returns by exerting the home advantage.

The last time these two teams met in a Test match was back in July 2022 when India and England locked horns for the isolated affair to complete the series of 2021 that got stuck due to the unexpected advent of Covid. Even though the Indians dominated the majority of the Test, an exemplary performance from the English batters changed the course of the game towards the latter half as the hosts clinched the bragging rights.

India will be brimming with confidence after stalling the South African juggernaut in the latter’s home stretch earlier this year while England’s last Test tales came in the hallowed Ashes where they turned the tide around in emphatic fashion to deny Australia an iconic triumph in the former’s backyard.

The hosts will be slightly dented in Virat Kohli’s absence, with the star batter out of the first two Tests and Rajat Patidar named as his replacement. England will miss the services of Harry Brook, who flew back home.

However, with two star-studded teams squaring off in the first Test, there’s a lot to look forward to, particularly in context of World Test Championship points on the line. 

Venue Watch:

With a fewer number of contests being played on this track, the ideal nature of the surface is tough to predict. However, truth be told, in the previous fixtures, this has usually been a batting track with hardly any returns whatsoever for the bowlers. The average first innings score reads a momentous 404 while the numbers drop to 377 in the second. However, the final two days witness a sharp decline in the numbers as the average numbers drop to a shocking 205 and 177 respectively.

Head to Head

Matches played: 131

India – 31

England - 50

Match Details:

Match – India vs England, 1st Test

Venue: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium

Date: 25th January, 2024

Time: 9:30 AM

Squads:

India:  Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan

England: Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Shoaib Bashir, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood.