The first match of the five-match Test series will be played between India and England from Friday. The match in Leeds will start at 3:30 pm Indian time. At the same time, the toss will take place half an hour before that i.e. at 3 pm. With this Test, the teams of India and England will start their World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle. While young Shubman Gill will lead the Indian team, veteran all-rounder Ben Stokes will captain England.

The English team had announced the playing 11 on Wednesday itself. At the same time, Team India will announce it just before the toss. However, the struggle for the Indian playing 11 is still going on. Eight players of the Indian playing-11 are almost decided, while the team management and head coach Gautam Gambhir have to brainstorm about three places. There is a battle between Sai Sudarshan, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Shardul Thakur, and Kuldeep Yadav for these places. Let's know what India's playing 11...

Rahul and Yashasvi are sure to open.

A young Team India will enter this series under the leadership of Gill. Only time will tell which player will perform well to fill the vacant places of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after they retire from Tests, but who should be tried in their place is the biggest question. There is every possibility of KL Rahul replacing Rohit as an opener. Rahul's record in England has also been excellent and his experience with young Yashasvi Jaiswal can come in handy.

This is Yashasvi's first tour of England, while Rahul has scored 614 runs in 18 innings of nine matches there at an average of 34.11. These include two centuries and a half-century. At the same time, vice-captain Rishabh Pant had said in the press conference on Wednesday that numbers four and five were fixed. Captain Shubman Gill will come out to bat at number four vacated by Virat Kohli, while Pant will continue to bat at number five. The entire responsibility of the middle order will be on the strong shoulders of these two.

Who will get a chance among Arshdeep, Prasidh and Akash?

At the same time, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is certain to play as a spinner. At the same time, the responsibility of fast bowling will be on the shoulders of experienced Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammad Siraj. Both of them are almost certain to play. Prasidh Krishna is almost certain to play as the third pacer. His hit-the-deck ball can prove to be lethal on the Leeds pitch. However, he may compete with Arshdeep Singh in the playing 11.

It will depend on whether the team management wants a left-arm fast bowler or not. Arshdeep has performed well in county cricket which strengthens his claim. However, he does not have the experience of playing Tests and due to this Prasidh can get a chance. Akash Deep is another option, but Prasidh is sure to get preference over him. Apart from these, the number-three, number-six, and one bowler's place is vacant in the team. The real battle is about this.

Will India go with six batsmen?

Vice-captain Pant had said that discussions are still going on about number three. This means that the team management is considering whether to give an all-rounder a chance or play an extra batsman. There is a lot of talk about Sai Sudarshan's debut at number three. However, Karun Nair recently batted at number three while playing for India-A and scored a double century. Karun is currently in the best form of his life and it will not be easy for the team management to keep an in-form batsman away from the playing 11.

In such a situation, Sudarshan can get a chance to play at number three and Karun at number six. However, in this combination, India will have only five bowling options and the team will not have any sixth bowler. At the same time, if either Sudarshan or Karun gets a chance at number three, then either Shardul or Nitish can be fielded at number six and Kuldeep Yadav can be fielded in the vacant spot of a bowler.

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