India vs England 1st Test: England win the toss and bat, hosts pick Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar

A last-minute injury to all-rounder Axar Patel has opened the door for Shahbaz Nadeem’s return to the Indian Test team for the first Test against England in Chennai from Friday (February). After making his India debut back in October 2019 in a innings and 202-run win over South Africa in Ranchi, left-arm spinner Nadeem will be taking part in his second Test against England. 

England skipper Joe Root, playing in his 100th Test, won the toss and chose to bat first on the Chepauk surface. Ollie Pope comes into the England side to replace the injured Zak Crawley while James Anderson continued to play ahead of Stuart Broad as the visitors chose to give Jofra Archer his first cap in a Test in India.  

India, meanwhile, chose to go in with three spinners with Nadeem joining Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav’s wait to return to the Test continued to get longer. 

“It’s a hard surface and we would have batted first too. Good cricketing wicket. I come in, Ishant, Nadeem, Washington, Ashwin both start. So, we play two offies and a left-arm spinner,” Kohli said at the toss. 

Nadeem picked up 2/22 and 2/18 in the two innings against South Africa as the Proteas were bowled out for 162 and 133 in the two innings in reply to Indian innings of 497/9 declared. The left-armer from Ranchi has been a consistent performer for Jharkhand in first-class cricket with 443 wickets in 117 games. 

He went on to bag 50 wickets in consecutive first-class seasons back in 2015-16 and 2016-17 to storm into national reckoning. Axar Patel was ruled out of the first Test due to pain in left knee on the eve of the first Test.

"Axar Patel has been ruled out of the first Test against England. The all-rounder complained of pain in his left knee during Team India’s optional training session on Thursday. He is being monitored by the BCCI Medical Team and while his detailed reports are awaited, he will not be available for selection for the opening match," BCCI said in a statement on Friday morning.