Leeds, Date 19: With a new captain, experienced coach, some old and some new faces, Team India will be seen writing a new saga on English soil for the next 45 days. When the first match of the five-Test series of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between India and England begins at the Headingley ground here from Friday, the Indian team without Rohit, Virat and Ashwin will face the challenge of giving a fight to the aggressive England team on its own soil. Along with the first Test, both the teams will also start a new round of their World Test Championship. The match will start at 3-30 pm according to Indian time. Only three Indian captains have achieved the feat of Test series victory in England. Now Shubman Gill will be eager to get his name in this list but it will not be easy at all. Because the Indian team is going through a phase of change. Captain Rohit Sharma, star Virat Kohli and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have left the team. Therefore, Gill’s team is a little weak in terms of experience. Against Gill is the aggressive England team of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes. Which is known for its baseball strategy to attack the opposing team from the first ball. Even then, it becomes more dangerous on the home pitch. Due to the presence of Joe Root, the England team is stronger in batting. But the Indian bowling line led by Jasprit Bumrah looks stronger than England. England’s bowling attack has been weakened due to the retirement of Anderson and Broad and injuries to some fast bowlers. Therefore, both the teams can be said to be in an equal position. Chris Woakes, Josh Tong, Brydon Carse, captain Ben Stokes and spinner Shoaib Bashir are not such bowlers who can create fear in the opposition team. England has already announced its XI. There will be a spinner in India’s XI. For which Ravindra Jadeja has a strong claim. However, wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav can also be effective in England. While there is a competition between Shardul Thakur and Nitish Kumar Reddy for the all-rounder’s spot, Arshdeep and Prasad Krishna are in the race for the third fast bowler. Meanwhile, everyone will be watching the performance of middle-order batsman Karun Nair, who is making a comeback after seven years.
A new era for Team India begins today.
