Picking India and England's combined 11 before 1st Test

India will take on England at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday, January 25 in the first Test of the five-match series. While the hosts will begin the series as favorites, England are expected to put up a very good fight with their ‘Bazball’ approach. It must also be noted that the Englishmen were the last side to beat India in India in a Test series at home in 2012.

As they have often done in the recent past, England have named their playing XI a day ahead of the Test match. In an interesting move, Ben Stokes and co. have decided to leave out veteran pacer James Anderson from the starting XI for the first Test. They have gone in with three spinners in Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley and Jack Leach, with Mark Wood being the only frontline pacer in the team.

India have not named their playing XI for Hyderabad. It remains to be seen whether they stick to KS Bharat as keeper or give a debut to Dhruv Jurel. The third spinner could also be a tricky choice as India would have to pick between Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.

Ahead of the first Test in Hyderabad, we pick a combined India-England XI.

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Openers: Rohit Sharma, Ben Duckett

Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Ben Duckett would be the opening pair in the combined XI. The duo can form a good left-right combination. Rohit has a brilliant record as a Test batter especially in India, where he averages 66.73 from 24 Tests, with eight hundreds and six fifties.

Duckett has played 15 Tests, scoring 1,121 runs at an average of 43.11, with two hundreds and seven fifties. Keeping in sync with England’s ‘Bazball’ philosophy, the 29-year-old has a strike rate of 84.73.

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Middle-order: Joe Root, KL Rahul, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes (captain)

With Virat Kohli unavailable for the first two Tests, Joe Root, KL Rahul, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes feature in the middle-order. England skipper [Stokes] would also lead the combined India-England XI.

Former England captain Root has a wonderful Test record. In 135 matches, he has amassed 11,416 runs at an average of 50.29, with 30 tons and 60 fifties. Root has also performed well in India, with 952 runs in 10 Tests, averaging 50.10.

KL Rahul, who won’t be keeping wickets for India in the Test series, features at No. 4 in the combined XI. The right-handed batter scored a fighting hundred in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion last month.

Bairstow would be the keeper-batter in the India-England XI. The aggressive right-handed batter has the experience of 95 Tests in which he has scored 5,804 runs at an average of 37.20 with 12 hundreds and 26 fifties. He had a poor Test series in India in 2021 and will be keen to make amends.

Skipper Stokes will be crucial for England with the bat if they want to pull off ‘Bazball’ in India. The left-hander has notched up over 6,000 runs in 97 Tests, averaging 36.41. In India, he possesses a Test average of 32.23, something he will be keen to improve.

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All-rounders and bowlers: Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mark Wood, Jasprit Bumrah

Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin will be the two frontline spinners in the India-England XI. Both players have terrific records in home Tests. While the left-arm spinner has claimed 194 wickets in 40 Tests at an average of 20.45, the off-spinner has picked up 337 scalps in 55 Tests, averaging 20.87.

It was a tough tussle between Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Jack Leach for the third spinner’s slot in the combined XI. Eventually, Axar got the nod as he claimed 27 wickets in three Tests during England’s previous tour and is also in good form with the willow.

Mark Wood and Jasprit Bumrah are the two pace bowling options in the India-England combined playing XI. Wood, who has that X-factor of extra pace, has 104 wickets to his name in 31 Tests at an average of 29.45.

As for Bumrah, he is among the best all-format pacers currently, with 140 scalps in 32 Tests, averaging 21.21 with nine five-wicket hauls.