India vs England, 1st Test: Tom Hartley marks his debut
What's the story
England have named their playing XI to take on India in the first Test match at Hyderabad starting on Thursday. Notably, the Three Lions have named four spinners in their side. Lancashire spinner Tom Hartley is set to make his Test debut. 41-year-old pacer James Anderson hasn't been included. Ben Stokes will lead the team with Ben Foakes to keep. Here's more.
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England XI versus India
England XI vs India: 1. Zak Crawley 2. Ben Duckett 3. Ollie Pope 4. Joe Root 5. Jonny Bairstow 6. Ben Stokes (c) 7. Ben Foakes (wk) 8. Rehan Ahmed 9. Tom Hartley 10. Mark Wood 11. Jack Leach.
Bowling
Hartley part of a spin-heavy attack
24-year-old left-arm spinner Hartley is part of three-pronged spin attack which has another left-arm spinner Jack Leach. Rehan Ahmed is the legspinner in the XI. Joe Root is the fourth spin option. A solitary fast bowler in Mark Wood is present in the XI. Hartley has claimed 40 wickets from 20 FC appearances at 36.57.
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Left-arm spin duo could unsettle India
Indian batters have struggled versus left-arm orthodox spin in Asia since 2021. As per Cricbuzz, Virat Kohli and R Ashwin have been dismissed eight times each. Rohit Sharma has seven dismissals under his belt. Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill have faltered six times each.
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Shoaib Bashir is the other spinner in England squad
Shoaib Bashir is the other spinner in the squad. However, he is yet to travel to India having not received his visa yet. Bashir flew back to the UK from Abu Dhabi, where England's squad had been training, to expedite the process.