India Opt to Bat First with Triple-Spinner Attack, Sooryavanshi Remains in Squad

Toss India chose to bat first vs England

India won the toss for the opening T20I against England in Chester-le‑Street and elected to bat. Captain Shreyas Iyer, confident on a pitch offering a decent grass cover, selected a spin‑heavy lineup featuring Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi and all‑rounder Axar Patel.

Recent defeats in Ireland have forced the world‑champions to reconsider their options, especially after opener Sanju Samson recorded two first‑ball ducks, raising the prospect of a place for Sooryavanshi. Nonetheless, the 31‑year‑old retains his spot for this encounter.

England enter the match reeling from a 2‑1 Test series loss to New Zealand, which also saw Ben Stokes step down as Test captain. Stokes has not featured in limited‑overs cricket for nearly three years, and his last T20I was the 2022 World Cup final.

Harry Brook, poised to take on Test leadership duties, returns to the T20I side, while emerging talent Jacob Bethell also makes the squad after a swift transition from the Tests. Both, along with head coach Brendon McCullum, travelled from Nottingham to Durham on Tuesday morning after concluding the final Test day at Trent Bridge.

Adapting to the shorter format on short notice will be a challenge for England, but they can rely on a more settled T20I core than the one that played in whites.

Only two changes have been made to the XI that fell to India in the T20 World Cup semi‑final: Saqib Mahmood and Luke Wood replace the rested Jofra Archer and the injured Jamie Overton.

England XI: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Harry Brook (c), 4 Jacob Bethell, 5 Tom Banton, 6 Sam Curran, 7 Will Jacks, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Luke Wood, 11 Saqib Mahmood

India XI: 1 Sanju Samson, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (c), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Harshit Rana, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Varun

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