England vs India, 2018: England's predicted XI for 1st Test

Middle-Order: Joe Root (C), Dawid Malan, and Jos Buttler

Virat Kohli's counterpart Joe Root will be playing the famous number 3 spot in the 1st Test against India. For the past three years Root has been England's central figure in the Test format. Of late, the Test captain has been in some serious form with the bat.

Dawid Malan, the young prodigy, is expected to take the number 4 spot with which he has been most comfortable with in the past. With a lot of spin options up India's sleeve and the English conditions being on the warmer side, Malan will face a challenging task in the middle-order.

At number 5, Jos Buttler will be closing the middle-order slot. Buttler has been enjoying some good form at the moment and will only add to the strength of the English batting line-up for the 1st Test against India. Thus, the right-handed batsman is most likely to feature in the playing XI for the 1st Test against India.