India vs England 5th Test: Toss Report, Pitch Info, Playing 11 Update, Pre-match comments

Birmingham, July 1: England captain Ben Stokes won the toss on Friday (July 1) at Edgbaston and asked India to bat first in the fifth Test here at Birmingham.

India did not pick R Ashwin for this Test and included Ravindra Jadeja as the lone spinner and all-rounder. India is captained by Jasprit Bumrah in the absence of Covid-19 hit Rohit Sharma.

India are going in with 4 pacers -- Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur, who also doubles up as a late order batsman.

So, here is the playing 11 update, pitch report and captain's comments.

Toss: England won, elected to bowl.

Playing 11

England: 1 Alex Lees, 2 Zak Crawley, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Ben Stokes (captain.), 7 Sam Billings (wk), 8 Matthew Potts, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson.

India: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Cheteshwar Pujara, 3 Hanuma Vihari, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Jasprit Bumrah (captain.)

Captains’ Comments

Ben Stokes, England Captain: “We're gonna have a bowl. We've done well chasing and it's also to see how the wicket will behave. It's obviously good to come into a new series so quickly. Gives us the opportunity to keep the momentum rolling. We're going to keep the same attitude going. Unfortunately Foakes didn't pull up well, so Sam Billings is in. James Anderson is fit, so James Overton goes out.”

Jasprit Bumrah, India captain: “It's a good feeling (to be captain) and is a big privilege. Can't get better than this. Excited and looking forward to this. Very happy with the preparation. Wanted to spend a lot of time and get used to the English conditions, as we came back from T20s. Happy with the preparation, now it's for the mental side to take over. Four bowlers - myself, Siraj, Shardul and Shami along with Jaddu as the all-rounder.”