India 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 have made one notable change from the squad that toured Ireland, with Varun Chakaravarthy returning after recovering from a foot injury. Teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, meanwhile, will have to wait for his international debut as India opted for an experienced playing XI featuring three specialist spinners.Speaking after the toss, Iyer said the team had moved on from the disappointing Ireland series and was eager to make a fresh start.Shreyas Iyer (India captain): “We’ll bat first. It’s a great opportunity for us. My second series as a captain, pretty much excited. Got what we wanted and had a practice session yesterday to acclimatize. The Ireland series is history. There’s a decent amount of grass on the wicket, so it’s difficult to predict how it’ll play, but our intent will remain high. We’re going with three spinners.”England captain Harry Brook admitted he would have preferred to bowl first but expressed confidence in his side’s balanced lineup.Harry Brook (England captain): “We would’ve bowled first, but we’re happy with the way things have gone. It looks like a good wicket. The mood in the camp is really good and we’re excited to get the series underway. We’ve got plenty of experienced players like Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Sam Curran, who I can always lean on.”England have rested Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue after their recent involvement in the Trent Bridge Test, paving the way for Luke Wood and Saqib Mahmood to feature in the series opener.
Playing XIs
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.
