England opt to bowl in first Test as India's Sudharsan makes debut

ENGLAND captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bowl first against India in the opening Test at Headingley on Friday.

The match began under clear skies and with a pitch showing only a slight green tinge, suggesting decent conditions for batting in the first game of the five-Test series.

Stokes said: "Headingley is generally a good cricket wicket, we have had some good games here over the years so we will look to use the early conditions and get a bit out of it (the pitch)."

England had already named their team, with two changes from the side that beat Zimbabwe by an innings at Trent Bridge. Chris Woakes returned in place of the injured Gus Atkinson, and Brydon Carse was included for his home debut.

India handed a debut to Sai Sudharsan, who was listed to bat at number three. New captain Shubman Gill was set to bat at number four.

India are aiming for their third Test series win in England, following previous victories in 1971, 1986 and 2007. Gill said: "Preparation has been amazing, I think all the boys are feeling in a good space mentally and physically."

The match also marks the start of a new cycle in the World Test Championship, following South Africa’s win over Australia in last week’s final at Lord's.

Both teams wore black armbands in memory of those who died in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, where all but one of the 242 people on board were killed.

Teams

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wkt), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir

India: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant (wkt), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZL), Paul Reiffel (AUS)
 TV Umpire: Sharfuddoula (BAN)
 Match Referee: Richie Richardson (WIS)