We would have bowled first, says Virat Kohli

“We were thinking about bowling first. The conditions are overcast, we want to make the most of it,” he said at the toss. “There’s always excitement and anticipation, it’s a long series and we are well prepared. We are comfortable with our skill-sets. I think we have the bowlers for this pitch, we need to focus on our skills, need to play positively and get the results,” he added. 

India decided to go with Shikhar Dhawan, leaving out Cheteshwar Pujara. That meant KL Rahul will bat at No 3. Three pace bowlers, Hardik as the all-rounder and Ashwin as the lone spinner made up the final eleven. 

Homeside captain Joe Root had his own reasons to bat first. “It looks a good surface, a bit of cloud cover, there’s some moisture which should burn off, looks good to bat. We are ready for this series, the preparations have been good, it’s time to deliver now. We are filled with confidence, but this is a new game for the players. The selectors gave us plenty of options for this surface and I am happy with the personnel we have,” he said. 

Sanjay Manjrekar in his pitch report reckoned the surface would offer spin as the match progressed. “The conditions are overcast, the pitch looks dark in colour, there should be some moisture on this surface. But there’s no fresh grass on the surface, It is a bat-first pitch though,” he said.

At Birmingham, no Asian team has won a Test and India’s record is lop-sided. Five losses and one draw is all that it has managed over the last six visits. James Anderson and Stuart Broad are back to full fitness after suffering from a few niggles. But what’s next after those two? Sam Curran is still learning the trade, Ben Stokes is a useful bowling option. 

India sprung a minor surprise by going with only one spinner in its side, Ravichandran Ashwin, to follow England’s example in only picking Adil Rashid. Admittedly it does not look like a two-spinner pitch. However, Virat Kohli pressed Ashwin early into service and the off-spinner delivered sending back Alastair Cook with a beauty. Kohli might have thought for a while he should have included left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav here as England is traditionally weak against wrist spin. 

The only disappointment here is what looks like a poor crowd for the start of this match and ticket sales in general are disappointing for this series so far. That has much to do with scheduling, a Wednesday start and a long wait for this series. But it is a worry for the ECB and the greatest form of the game.