The much-awaited five-match Test series between India and England is set to get underway tomorrow (January 25) in Hyderabad. With World Test Championship (WTC) points at stake, both teams will be looking to put their best foot forward in the series. Having said that, both sides have been dealt with huge blows. Harry Brook of England has pulled out of the entire series due to personal reasons while India's superstar Virat Kohli will not feature in the first two Test matches.
Coming back to the opening Test match, all eyes will be on the pitch on offer even as it wears a dry look at the moment and England have already named their playing XI filled with as many as three specialist spinners. However, weather in Hyderabad will be important as well and it will be interesting to see if rain will play spoilsport at any moment during the match.
Interestingly, the Test match will start in cloudy conditions on Thursday (January 25) and the sun is expected to come out around 2 PM, most probably by the time the final session gets underway. There is no rain in the forecast on Day 1 of the game. Moreover, in a massive good news to the fans, rain is not in the forecast on any of the days when the Test match is being played. However, there will be phases when it will be cloudy and that might play a crucial role.
With winter season still in progress in the country, there will also be moisture early in the morning on every day of the game and that will present an opportunity for the fast bowlers to make an impact. Also, the conditions in India bring into play the reverse swing as well. Overall, the fans will get to witness an exciting Test match without any hindrance due to rain.
Squads
England: Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Shoaib Bashir, Dan Lawrence, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood.
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Srikar Bharat, Dhruv Jurel, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel
