India Vs England

India, who have drafted in KL Rahul as opener, are playing four seamers in Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. Thakur has been picked to provide all-round option. Ravindra Jadeja is the lone spinner. India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.

It will be a tough task to beat England in England considering that India are struggling to find an opener to provide stability and a pace bowling all-rounder who can bring in the balance. One thing going for India is that they have managed to spend some time in England. On all the recent three tours -- 2011, 2014 and 2018 -- acclimatisation to the weather conditions was a worry. No wonder, India lost series on all three occasions.

"Anyone who knows Ben knows that he puts England in front of himself first. He has an opportunity to put himself first, to take time to look after himself so that he is able to play [later]. Hopefully, that will be sooner than later. I think cricket needs to be a secondary thought down the line and he should think of himself first," said England Test captain Root in a virtual media interaction on Monday.

The Indian team will look to halt a run of three successive away series defeats against England when they take on the Joe Root-led side in the five-match series that begins on August 4 (Wednesday) at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Here is a look at India's series losses that began a decade back after the 1-0 series success in 2007.

"All the guys are fit for selection. Only Mayank Agarwal, who got hit on the helmet today [is a concern]. The physios are assessing him. The medical team will issue a statement shortly. Otherwise, everyone is available," said India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane to the media. India are already struggling for opening options as they have lost opener Shubman Gill to injury.

However, the home side still has more options than India in that department. Even as India's pace bowling all-rounder option in Hardik Pandya remains unfit to perform Test duties and has been playing only limited overs cricket, England have Sam Curran, who turned out to be the difference in the last series against India at home.

The Test series begins on August 4 in Nottingham. "Stokes has withdrawn from England's Test squad ahead of the Test series against India starting next week to prioritise his mental wellbeing and to rest his left index finger, which has not fully healed since his return to competitive cricket earlier this month," said the ECB statement.

Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran have also returned to the Test team. While Bairstow, Buttler and Curran were rested from the New Zealand series after taking part in this year's IPL and undergoing a lengthy period of quarantine, Stokes has recovered from a finger injury that saw him withdraw from the Indian Premier League this year.

Indian cricket board's decision to allow players to visit sporting venues as well as other public places in England and mingle with crowd during their three-week break has come under spotlight after it emerged that wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has tested positive for Covid-19.

Opener Danielle Wyatt, who shot to limelight seven years ago for proposing Virat Kohli on Twitter, smashed an unbeaten 89 off 56 balls late Wednesday night to help England Women beat India Women by eight wickets in the third and final T20I. The win helped England win the T20I series 2-1 and clinch the all-format series 10-6.