India vs England, 1st T20I: Visitors opt to field as hosts rest Rohit Sharma for first two games

Ahmedabad, March 12: England won the toss and opted to field first against India in the opening T20I of the five-match series in Ahmedabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday (March 12).

In a surprise move, India skipper Virat Kohli announced that limited overs vice captain Rohit Sharma will be resting in the first two matches of the five-match T20I series, while pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back in the side along with Shardul Thakur.

Left-hander Shikhar Dhawan will open alongside KL Rahul. All-rounder Hardik Pandya will be seen bowling in this five-match series.

Kohli said India would have also bowled first. "Probably would have bowled first as well. Dew is going to be a massive factor in the second half. Got to get into the game with the ball and restrict them to a chaseable score," Kohli said at the toss.

"We were planning to do things like batting first in these conditions where bowling in the dew becomes a factor. It's a good way to prepare for the World Cup. The next few months will be important from a team environment. Rohit is resting for the first couple of games."

India will be high on confidence as they earlier defeated England in the four-match Test series 3-1. The series will also serve as great preparation for both sides, given the ICC T20 World Cup is scheduled to be played later this year.

Meanwhile, England skipper Morgan said: "We're going to have a bowl. Looks a good wicket with a covering of grass. A little bit of dew later on. Going to be an evenly-poised contest.

"The opportunity to play in India against a very strong side with the World Cup later this year, we're really excited. The key is to evolve in our game. Five T20Is at this ground, it's going to turn at some stage and we have to be smarter. That's one aspect of our game that we're trying to evolve."

India XI: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(captain), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal

England XI: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(wicketkeeper), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan(captain), Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood