India vs England, 1st Test: England wear black armbands in memory Sir Captain Tom Moore

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Chennai, February 5: England team wore black armbands on the opening day of the first Test at the MA Chidambaram stadium here on Friday (February 5), condoling the death of Captain Sir Tom Moore, war veteran and fund-raising hero earlier this week due to Coronavirus.

"The England team are wearing black armbands in respect of inspirational war veteran and fund-raising hero Captain Sir Tom Moore, who died aged 100 earlier this week after being admitted to hospital with coronavirus," the ECB media team said.

Earlier, England skipper Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against India at MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday (February 5).

This Test will mark the resumption of international cricket in India after a gap of more than 11 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Root will be playing his landmark 100th Test for his country while Jos Buttler is playing his 50th Test for England.

India skipper Virat Kohli will be playing his first Test after becoming a father. Kohli returned from Australia tour after the first Test for the birth of his first child. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem came in for injured Axar Patel while R Ashwin and Jaspreet Bumrah, who missed the Brisbane Test due to injuries, too made a return to the Playing 11.

Both the teams are coming after heroics in their last Test tours. India won the series in Australia 2-1 despite facing many challenges while England outplayed Sri Lanka 2-0.

India are playing with three spinners and two pacers. Shahbaz and Ishant Sharma, who missed the entire tour of Australia, come in for the hosts. On the other hand, England have brought in Rory Burns in place of injured Zak Crawley while Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Ollie Pope come into the side.