India v England playing XI and toss updates for 1st T20I – March 12
After winning the Test series, Team India will want to continue their winning run at home in the five T20Is against England. England skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss in Ahmedabad and invited the hosts to bat first at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Interestingly, the Indian cricket team have not included Rohit Sharma in the playing XI. They have gone with the opening combination of Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul, while we will have to wait to see a debutant.
Meanwhile, England have gone with a stellar batting line-up featuring skipper Morgan, world number one batsman Dawid Malan, and the three 'Js' Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, and Jos Buttler.
The two teams hold the first two positions on the ICC T20I Rankings ahead of this series. England is number one right now, but Team India will be keen to inch closer to the pole position with a brilliant performance in the coming five matches. India lost a solitary T20I game last year, highlighting their magnificent form in the shortest format.
It will be exciting to find out which team takes the early lead in this 5-match T20I series.
India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur.
England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Sam Billings, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
India v England 1st T20I: Who won the toss today?
England won the toss in the first T20I and have opted to bowl first in Ahmedabad.
Playing XI for the first India v England T20I match
India's playing XI: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal.
England's playing XI: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (c), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Mark Wood, Adil Rashid.