ENG vs IND: Here is why Virat Kohli is not playing the first ODI

Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first against England in the first ODI match at the Oval on Tuesday. The biggest news for the visitors is star batter Virat Kohli missing this fixture with a minor injury. Shreyas Iyer came in his place with Suryakumar Yadav playing in the number four position.

Rumours were already flying regarding Kohli’s availability for the first match. The former captain has rarely missed a match due to an injury issue and for the fans, it’s hard to accept this reason for his unavailability. India are also missing the left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh with a right abdominal strain, who recently made his T20I debut. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) tweeted about the reasons for both Kohli’s and Arshadeep’s exclusion and said the medical team is closely monitoring them.

“Virat Kohli and Arshdeep Singh were not considered for selection for the first ODI against England. Virat has a mild groin strain while Arshdeep has right abdominal strain. The BCCI Medical Team is monitoring them,” BCCI tweeted.

🚨 UPDATE: Virat Kohli and Arshdeep Singh were not considered for selection for the first ODI against England.

Virat has a mild groin strain while Arshdeep has right abdominal strain. The BCCI Medical Team is monitoring them.#TeamIndia | #ENGvIND

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 12, 2022

No surprises in India’s starting eleven apart from Virat Kohli:

Apart from Kohli’s unavailability, India have no real surprises in their starting eleven for the first match. Rohit is starting with Shikhar Dhawan, who was not part of both the Test and T20Is squads. Shreyas Iyer and in-form Suryakumar Yadav are likely to play in number three and four positions with no place for Ishan Kishan. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja occupy all-rounder slots with Axar Patel sitting out. As expected, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Prasidh Krishna are leading the pace attack and Yuzvendra Chahal is a specialist spin option.

India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna.

England XI: Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Craig Overton, David Willey, Reece Topley, Brydon Carse.