New Delhi: The Indian cricket and English cricket teams will take the field against each other at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, and both the teams will have only one thing in mind, which is to take an early lead in the series and put the opposing team under pressure for the rest of the series.
England on their Indian tour, will play a total of five matches, with the first one scheduled to begin from Thursday, January 25.
England, who last won a test series against India six years ago in 2018, will be looking to repeat the record as they were the last team to win a test series against India and India back in 2013.
Notably, this series will bear a total of 60 points and will play an important role in the World Test Championship, as the Indian team will want to make the most of the home-ground advantage to make their bid to reach their third consecutive finals strong.
On the other hand, the English cricket team, who are at the seventh spot currently, desperately needs to get maximum points out of this series in order to keep their WTC finals hopes alive.
Rohit Sharma in press conferences is a proper entertainment 😌🤣🍿😎
I can watch him all day in press conferences✨️#RohitSharma𓃵 #INDvsENG https://t.co/cf2UqItqzQ pic.twitter.com/0cXkW26Vbg— Dhwani (@Dhwani_1997) January 24, 2024
Batsmen need to lead
In the series, which is expected to be led by the bowlers from both sides, batsmen need to take up the responsibility of scoring big runs and giving their team the upper hand during the match.
When it’s almost “time” for the first Test ⏳#TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @IDFCFirstBank pic.twitter.com/QbswZ1AMWZ
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 23, 2024
For India, Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul will be the batsmen in focus for India in the first two tests, as Virat Kohli has withdrawn his name for the first two tests citing personal reasons.
For England, it will be once again Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Jhonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes who will be leading the chart.
Bowlers to have the spotlight
The bowlers from both sides will be the main talk, especially the spinners, as the Indian pitches are known for their spinning conditions.
Everybody is talking about Bazball, but I feel, actually it is ASHBALL, which is going to be a bigger winning formula in the current Test series. @ashwinravi99‘s magic has been the main reason for India winning a record number of 16 home series on the trot.
#INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/9IQtsOqT91
— C.VENKATESH (@C4CRICVENKATESH) January 24, 2024
Indian spin department will be led by R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, while for the English side, it will be Jack Leach, Tom Hartley and Rehan Ahmed, who will be leading the spin department.
When and where to match
The first test match between India and England at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad will begin at 9:30 a.m., with the live telecast to be done through Sports 18 networks, while Jio Cinema has the live streaming rights.
𝙋𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 💪
Witness your favourite #TeamIndia superstars prepare for the ultimate Test against 🏴. Watch India Nets Live today, starting at 11:30 AM, LIVE on #JioCinema & #Sports18! 🙌🏻#JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/InQ7sMBrty
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) January 24, 2024
