Who made it to the England playing XI for the first test against India?

England announces their playing XI ahead of the test against India

XtraTime Web Desk: England cricket team skipper Joe Root confirmed that spinner Adil Rashid will play in the opening game against India at Edgbaston. Jos Buttler will be the new vice-captain.

Moeen Ali and uncapped seamer Jamie Porter wil sit out in the opening test match. England will play in their 1000 th test match.




Speester Sam Curran will play his second Test, following his debut against Pakistan at Leeds in June, with Chris Woakes injured, and will line-up alongside Stuart Broad and James Anderson.

Anderson had been the side’s vice-captain, replacing Ben Stokes when the allrounder was caught up in controversy following an alleged late-night altercation in Bristol last September that saw him miss the Ashes series Australia won 4-0.

Stokes will appear in court to face a charge of affray, which he has pleaded not guilty to, following the conclusion of the first Test.




Buttler, 27, was recalled to England’s Test team at the start of England’s season for the matches against Pakistan, scoring two half-centuries in three innings. He is also vice-captain to Eoin Morgan in England’s one-day side.

England XI: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (c), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.

Former captain Alastair Cook says Rashid is mature enough to handle the pressure following his controversial recall as the spinner continues to cop criticism from former players and even his own teammates.




Michael Vaughan, another ex-England skipper, described the decision as a “stab in the back” for the county game while Yorkshire were unhappy with the move.

And on Monday, former captain Geoffrey Boycott labelled Rashid “a spoilt brat”, comments that came after Rashid’s former Yorkshire teammate Ryan Sidebottom had a thinly-veiled swipe at the 30-year-old on Twitter.

Asked if Rashid may find it difficult to give his best in England’s 1000th Test, Cook said: “I think probably in the past he would have.

“(But) over the last 18 months I think he’s matured as a cricketer and improved since we last saw him in an England Test shirt.




“I think he’ll be fine. Clearly he’s going to be nervous but I genuinely think he will cope – he’s bowling brilliantly.”

Boycott said Yorkshire’s should have rejected Rashid’s request for a white-ball only contract earlier this year and forced him to play all three formats, but that “sadly, Yorkshire didn’t have the balls to do that”.

“Loyalty works two ways but it appears Adil wants to be free to play anywhere in the world there is a one-day tournament that pays him big bucks,” Boycott lamented in his column for The Telegraph.

“He should reverse the roles and put himself in (Yorkshire’s) position instead of thinking about himself. It makes him look like a spoilt brat. Not only has he put two fingers up to Yorkshire by not playing four-day cricket, Adil is now not available for Yorkshire’s Twenty20 matches.”

Cook voiced his sympathy for Rashid, who has had to deal with the fallout following his selection rather than being allowed to celebrate his first call-up since the last of his 10 Test caps in December 2016.




“I can understand why it’s caused a bit of fuss,” he said.

“But you just have to get on with it and I think we should be concentrating on the positives rather than the negatives.

“We’ve got a different style of English spinner with a little bit of mystery to him, who’s bowling really well.”

Cook does not believe a significant precedent has been set to clear the way for what would be Rashid’s first Test on home soil if he makes the team on Wednesday.




“I don’t think it will happen very many times again,” he said.

“Obviously, (national selector) Ed (Smith) said you need to be playing red-ball cricket (to be selected in future) and I think that’s right.

“But sometimes in exceptional circumstances, selection goes a different way than you would like – and obviously Ed and the selectors have made a brave call.”