No place for James Anderson as England announce their playing XI for IND vs ENG 1st Test

IND vs ENG 1st Test: The England cricket team have revealed their playing XI for the first Test match against India in Hyderabad. Ben Stokes-led side have named four spinners in the playing XI and the only pacer in Mark Wood. Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed and Jack Leach did not play in the last Test against Australia in 2023, but will take part in the first Test against India. Lancashire's Tom Hartley will make his debut. Veteran pacer James Anderson has been left out of the playing for the first Test.

England Playing XI vs India for 1st Test

1. Zak Crawley
2. Ben Duckett
3. Ollie Pope
4. Joe Root
5. Jonny Bairstow
6. Ben Stokes (C)
7. Ben Foakes
8. Rehan Ahmed
9. Tom Hartley
10. Mark Wood
11. Jack Leach

England miss Bashir in the squad

The 20-year-old off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, who plays for Somerset in the English county, was with the squad in Abu Dhabi but couldn't proceed to India as he is yet to be granted visa. His family is of Pakistani heritage.

Bashir, who is a shock inclusion in the squad with a mediocre 10 wickets from just six first-class games, was never in contention for a place in the squad for the opening Test starting here on Thursday.

"Yeah, so he's back in London now. So, hopefully, we're going to see him back in India over the weekend. The feelings we have towards it (the visa episode) hasn't changed. It's obviously a frustrating situation," Stokes said in the pre-match press conference here on Wednesday.

"You know, we had announced our squad mid-December. Now, it's January 24 and we still don't have a reason for Shoaib's absence here...hopefully, we can get over and he can also just concentrate on the rest of his tour," he added.

Earlier, in an interaction with the British media on Tuesday, Stokes had stated that he felt "devastated" for the youngster.

"I didn't want this type of situation to be his first experience of what it's like to be in the England Test team," he had said.

(with PTI inputs)