Indian captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bat first in the opening T20I of the five-match series against England at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street. The visitors made a notable change from the squad that toured Ireland, with Varun Chakaravarthy returning after recovering from a foot injury. Teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, on the other hand, will have to wait for his international debut as India opted for an experienced playing XI with three specialist spinners.Speaking after the toss, Iyer said the team had moved on from the disappointing series in Ireland and was eager to make a fresh start.Shreyas Iyer (Indian captain). “We will bat first. This is a great opportunity for us. It’s my second series as a captain, I’m a little excited. Got what we wanted and had a practice session yesterday to acclimatize. The Ireland series is history. There is a decent amount of grass on the wicket, so it will be difficult to predict how it will play out, but our aim will remain high. We will go with three spinners.”England captain Harry Brook admitted he would prefer to bowl first but expressed confidence in his side’s balanced lineup.Harry Brook (England captain). “We should have bowled first, but we are happy with the way things have gone. It looks like a good wicket. The mood in the camp is great and we are excited to start the series. We have a lot of experienced players like Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Sam Curran, who I can always count on.”England have rested Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue after their recent participation in the Trent Bridge Test, paving the way for Luke Wood and Saqib Mahmood to feature in the series opener.
Playing XI:
England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Harry Brook (c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood.India: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy.