Birmingham’s Edgbaston stadium to host England vs India first test match of 2018 series starting from 1st August. Playing XI for both teams is going to crucial as Edgbaston pitch and English conditions favor the bowlers most. Hence England and India cricket teams will be looking to have make their batting lineup solid.

Joe Root and Alistair Cook are the pillars of England team in test cricket and these two have to score runs big to give bowlers edge over strong Indian batting lineup. It will be interesting to see how Jennings will bat at the top with Cook. Jos Buttler and Bairstow will have the responsibility to strengthen middle order that consists of experienced all-rounders Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes.

English bowling to depend on fast bowlers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad who were crucial part of hosts when both teams met in 2014 series. Anderson and Kohli’s battle will be crucial in prospects of the game as both are key players for respective teams.

Team India will be relying on their strong batting lineup to get victory in the first test to set the tone for long 5-tests series. Kohli, Dhawan, Vijay, Pujara and Rahane are set to be the key batsmen in Indian side. Practice game against Essex was good for Men in Blue as skipper Kohli, all-rounder Pandya, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik and KL Rahul smashed fifties.
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Captain Virat Kohli has to score this series to make his critics quite. He faced load of criticism during 2014 India’s tour of England where he failed to score runs. It will be interesting to see how playing 11 to look like for India as Rahul doesn’t fit in the playing lineup.

Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Ashwin are the three spinners and we can see any two out of these will be in the India’s playing eleven. Kuldeep and Ashwin are expected to be the part of Indian side in Birmingham. Mohammed Shami and Ishant are the front choice for fast bowling options.

Hosts are coming into the five-day format by winning ODI series meanwhile visitors have got confidence of winning Twenty20 series and a good practice game against Essex. Pakistan’s Aleem Dar and New Zealand’s Chris Gaffaney are the official umpires for this first test match between India and England.

Let’s have a look at the predicted playing line-ups for ENG vs IND first test.

England vs India 1^st Test squad 2018

What do you think about these predicted playing lineups for England and India? What’s your call?