Hardik Pandya is a major absentee as India take on England in the first ODI of the three-match series on Tuesday, July 14. The Men in Blue aim to bounce back from their recent T20I drubbings to Ireland and England as they take on the English side at Edgbaston, Birmingham.ย
Pandya is not part of the first match and, in fact, the complete ODI series as he has been ruled out of the ongoing assignment in England due to a leg strain he picked up in the build-up to the Afghanistan ODIs. Hardik also missed the three-match series against the Afghans, which the Men in Blue won 3-0.
Hardik reported to the BCCI CoE for his back spasms following the IPL 2026 with the Mumbai Indians. The all-rounder was working his way back from the issue and had been given clearance for the three-match series against Afghanistan before a fresh blow pegged him back, as he was ruled out of the home series against the Asian side. He was later also ruled out of the England ODIs.
India asked to bowl first
England captain Harry Brook won the toss and opted to bat first as India were put in to bowl first. “We’re gonna have a bat today. Looks like a good surface, don’t quite know what’s gonna happen, but we fancy our chances with the bat first. Hopefully, we can get a little bit of spin in the second innings,” England skipper Brook said at the toss.
Meanwhile, India skipper Shubman Gill also confirmed that he wanted to bowl first anyway. “Actually, we’re looking to bowl first. [On India’s preparation after the T20Is] Well, I think most of the boys have been playing the T20s and the rest of the boys we got a bit of rest, I had a bit of training. Got here a couple of days before, so we were practicing. So the environment, the vibe has been really good,” he said at the toss.
England (Playing XI): Jacob Bethell, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook(c), Jos Buttler(w), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson, Josh Tongue, Adil Rashid
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna
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