England vs India 2018: Team India's strongest playing XI for the first Test

The upcoming five-match series between India and England is easily the most anticipated series this year as two world-class teams take on each other for the bragging rights in this format. The Indian team didn't win the series in their last two trips to England and will look to earn the honours this time.

It won't be an easy task as they square off against a formidable English side led by Joe Root. The Indian selectors named the squad for the first three Tests yesterday. Let us take a look at how India could line up in the first Test that begins in Birmingham on August 1.

Full Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur

Openers

Opening is one position that will give the Indian team management a lot of headache as the squad has as many as three men who equally deserve to open the batting for the team.

Murali Vijay has been India's number 1 opener in the longer formats for a while now and he is very crucial for Virat Kohli and co. if they want to do well in England.

Shikhar Dhawan, on the other hand, has done nothing wrong in the chances he has got in the format. in the last Test innings he played, he hit a century inside the first session. The team will expect the southpaw to get them off to a flier in England as well.

KL Rahul is the most in-form batsman at the moment and has been very consistent in Test arena so far. He will also look to convert his fifties into centuries in the upcoming series.

Dropping one of these three will be unfair on the player. Still, the team management has to take a call on the opening pair and in all likelihood, Dhawan and Vijay will open the batting for the no.1 Test side in England.