India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bat first in the first T20I of the five-match series against England at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street, on Wednesday.
Iyer's Toss Statement
After winning the toss, Iyer said the team had moved on from the 2-0 series loss to Ireland and was excited for the challenge against England. He noted that India had acclimatised well and expected to play with high intent despite uncertain pitch conditions. Iyer confirmed the team opted for three spinners. "We'll bat first. It's a great opportunity for us. My second series as a captain, pretty much excited. Got what we wanted, had a session of practice to acclimatise yesterday. It's fine (the mood in the dressing room). Ireland series is history. Pretty decent amount of grass on the wicket. Can't predict how it's going to play, but definitely the intent is going to be high. Going with three spinners," Iyer said during the toss presentation.
Brook's Reaction
England captain Harry Brook said he would have preferred to bowl anyway and was happy with the toss outcome. He praised the positive mood in the camp and looked forward to facing a strong Indian side. Brook added that the experience of senior players like Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, and Sam Curran would be invaluable during the series. "Would've had a bowl, happy with that result. Looks like a good wicket. The mood's really good. We're really looking forward to this series starting against a very strong Indian side, and, it's good to be back with the lads. There's a lot of experienced players, and that's quite nice for me to be able to lean on them in the middle of the game as well. And having the likes of Jos Buttler and Phil Salt, Sam Curran out in the middle as well to lean on when I need some help, is really helpful," Brook said.
Playing XIs
India: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (W), Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy.
England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (W), Harry Brook (C), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood.
