England vs India 2018: Team India's strongest playing XI for the first Test

The upcoming five-match series between India and England is easily the most anticipated series this year as two world-class teams take on each other for the bragging rights in this format. The Indian team didn't win the series in their last two trips to England and will look to earn the honours this time.

It won't be an easy task as they square off against a formidable English side led by Joe Root. The Indian selectors named the squad for the first three Tests yesterday. Let us take a look at how India could line up in the first Test that begins in Birmingham on August 1.

Full Squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur

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Openers

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Opening is one position that will give the Indian team management a lot of headache as the squad has as many as three men who equally deserve to open the batting for the team.

Murali Vijay has been India's number 1 opener in the longer formats for a while now and he is very crucial for Virat Kohli and co. if they want to do well in England.

Shikhar Dhawan, on the other hand, has done nothing wrong in the chances he has got in the format. in the last Test innings he played, he hit a century inside the first session. The team will expect the southpaw to get them off to a flier in England as well.

KL Rahul is the most in-form batsman at the moment and has been very consistent in Test arena so far. He will also look to convert his fifties into centuries in the upcoming series.

Dropping one of these three will be unfair on the player. Still, the team management has to take a call on the opening pair and in all likelihood, Dhawan and Vijay will open the batting for the no.1 Test side in England.

Middle order

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As mentioned above, dropping one of the three openers in the squad will be unfair on the player and KL Rahul might not open the batting. But, there are a lot of chances that the Karnataka batsman will bat at number 3, ahead of Chetaeshwar Pujara, who has been patchy for a while.

Playing for Yorkshire, Pujara looked uncomfortable and with KL Rahul waiting in the wings, the team management might take a hard call and have Rahul in place of Pujara.

Skipper Virat Kohli will bat at number 4 while his deputy Ajinkya Rahane will take care of the number 5 spot. Karun Nair will have to wait for his chances in the series.

All-rounder and wicketkeeper

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With Wriddhiman Saha yet to recover from the finger injury he sustained ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan, the selectors have named Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant as the wicketkeepers in the side. DK is an automatic choice while Pant has been rewarded for his efforts with India A in England.

In all likelihood, DK will be the keeper for the first Test. The team management can also have Rahul don the glove and bat him at 6, accommodating Pujara at 3. Hardik Pandya is the only all-rounder in the side and is likely to feature in the playing XI at Edgbaston.

Spinner

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R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav are the three spinners in the squad. There have been a lot of support for the wrist spinner to feature in Test XI ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja, thanks to his recent success against the Englishmen in the limited-overs series.

Picking him over Ashwin will be unfair on the offie, who spent his time honing the skills with Worcestershire in the County Championships last season. Also, Ashwin has always been India's first choice spinner in the format and he is likely to hold on to his place in the side in England too.

Fast bowlers

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When the Test squad to face England was announced yesterday, the selectors made it clear that Jasprit Bumrah will be available for selection from the second Test while Bhuvneshwar Kumar's fitness will be assessed by BCCI before they consider him for selection for the first Test.

This leaves Kohli will just four options, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur. These four pacers will fight for the three remaining slots and in all likelihood, Shardul will be the one who will be missing out from making it to the XI.