Why Virat Kohli not playing: The former Indian captain might regain fitness before the second ODI on Thursday.
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During the first ODI of the ongoing India’s tour of England at The Oval, India captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and chose to bowl.
“We are going to bowl first. There is some grass cover and it’s overcast as well. I guess sun will be out in sometime. We want to have a score in front of us. [Mohammed] Shami, [Jasprit] Bumrah – those guys can swing the ball. It’s important to take wickets upfront and put brakes on the scoring,” Sharma told Sky Sports at the toss.
Much like Sharma, England captain Jos Buttler was also aiming at bowling first. Coming on the back of a 1-2 T20I series loss, Buttler welcomed the return of multi-format players namely Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Ben Stokes.
“We would have done the same thing, we would have bowled first. I am learning a lot about myself, and about my role. Looking forward to the ODI series, it has been a great learning experience,” Buttler told Sky Sports at the toss.
Why Virat Kohli not playing today vs England?
Playing an ODI after five months, India have made five changes from their Playing XI which had played against West Indies in Ahmedabad.
Former captain Virat Kohli, all-rounder Washington Sundar, spinner Kuldeep Yadav and pacers Deepak Chahar and Mohammed Siraj have made way for all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, fast bowlers Bumrah and Shami and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
While Sundar, Yadav and Chahar are not part of India’s 17-member squad for this series, Kohli is missing this match due to a groin injury. Siraj, on the other hand, will be warming the bench alongside the likes of Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur. Picked in the ODI squad for the first time, fast bowler Arshdeep Singh has also suffered a right abdominal strain ahead of this ODI.
