England announce 14-member squad for first Test vs India, key fast bowler ruled out

England have announced their 14-member squad for the first Test of the upcoming five-match series against England. As reported earlier, fast bowler Gus Atkinson has been ruled out of the series opener that will be played from June 20 at Headingley, Leeds. He sustained a hamstring injury during the one-off Test match against Zimbabwe last month, having walked off after bowling only six overs in the first innings.

With Atkinson ruled out, the hosts are likely to pick three fast bowlers from Sam Cook, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue and Chris Woakes. There could be a toss-up between Woakes and Overton for one place as both of them offer a decent batting option at number eight. Woakes and Tongue are also playing for England Lions against India A in the four-day match starting from June 6 (Friday). The former is returning to international cricket after recovering from an ankle injury and played County Cricket as well recently.

Will Ben Stokes bowl?

Shoaib Bashir is set to retain his place in the playing XI as the lead spinner after player of the match performance last month against Zimbabwe. Skipper Ben Stokes is also likely to roll his arm around as the fourth pace bowling option in the line-up. He bowled 11.2 overs against Zimbabwe and picked up three wickets. The batting line-up is expected to remain the same as it was for the one-off Test.

This is the start of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle for both India and England. Both teams failed to make it to the WTC final in the previous edition. Interestingly, England have never qualified for the WTC Final since its inception while Team India ended as runners-up in the first two editions.