England playing 11 for India Test in Hyderabad announced, James Anderson OUT, 3 spinners make the cut

England led by Ben Stokes have named their playing XI for the first Test against India in Hyderabad. While Stokes is back in the same side the captain, veteran pacer James Anderson has been dropped from the playing XI for the first Test.

Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, and Ben Foakes are the batters in the lineup with prior experience of playing in India. Mark Wood who has not yet played a Test match in India will lead the bowling attack.

England have opted to go in with three spinners in Rehan Ahmed, Jack Leach and the uncapped spinner Tom Hartley. Joe Root can be the fourth spinner. Wood is the only specialist seamer in the XI which is packed with spin options.

There were a lot of talks about what kind of XI does England dish out and they have opted to go in with a spin-heavy one. The left-arm orthodox spinner Hartley who has played just two ODIs for England will play his first Test match.

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England had four pacers in the XI including Wood, Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Gus Atkinson and they have opted to field just a solitary pacer. It will be interesting to see how much he bowls in this Tets match given that the tall pacer is prone to injury as well. The pacer who was a part of the squad that endured a miserable World Cup said that he is all set to go in this series.

“I was really upset with it, after the first week I got home. When you go from game to game, you’re disappointed but then you’re like ‘right, it’s the next game, then the next game’. For about a week once I got home it was, ‘why did I do that’ or ‘why was this happening’, ‘what did we do that for’. It really hurt for a while, but that’s why that was the hunger to come back into this environment. I’m ready to try to prove that was just a one-off,” Wood said.

There were speculations that Ben Stokes might not be fully fit for the first Test against India. However, he has been included in the XI. He will play as a specialist batter and has already confirmed that he will not bowl in the series.

“As I said before, bowling is such an unnatural thing for the body to go through that it’s not going to be a case of right, I’m good now, straight back into bowling. Remember the last ball I bowled was actually in the Ashes at Lord’s. So my body is nowhere near ready to even be thinking about competitive bowling at the moment,” Stokes was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

England’s Playing XI Announced

Joe Root with 2526 runs against India in 25 Test matches is the most experienced batter for the visitors. He plays spinners well but was seeming to be struggling at the nets. Zak Cawlwy who had a forgetful tour of India in 2021 would like to cash in on this opportunity. Ben Stokes who enhanced the “Bazball” style in Test cricket will have a tough series against India as captain. It might even be a make-or-beak series for him. England are placed eighth in thee WTC points table below Takistan and Bangladesh.

England Playing XI for Hyderabad Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (C), Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Jack Leach

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