India vs England: Gautam Gambhir picks his ideal X1 for first Test

When India and England will lock horns against each other on 5th February 2021 at Chennai will certainly witness  two top class teams facing each other especially after winning their last series in foreign conditions.

As India defeated mighty Australia by 2-1 to lift the Border-Gavaskar Trophy twice on the Australian soil. However on the other end England under the leadership  of Joe Root will be booming on confidence after beating Sri Lanka by 2-0 in their last tour to island nation.

However India are certainly starting as favorites as their track record at home is good magnificent under the leadership of charismatic skipper Kohli. Also there are certain numbers that both these teams have to fulfil in order in order to cement their place to play against Kiwis on 18th June 2021 for the inaugural edition of World Test Championship final.

Former Indian cricketer and BJP MP Gautam Gambhir picks his ideal X1 for India ahead of first encounter against England where he backed young Shubhman gill to open the innings with Rohit Sharma.  He also feels that India should go ideally with five bowlers and has backed Axar Patel as all rounder to play in absence of Ravindra Jadeja who will be missing the Test series against England due to thumb injury.

“Five Bowlers, hundred percent. I have always been a firm believer that India has to go in with five bowlers in any condition. So, probably Axar bats at No.7, it is a direct swap between Jadeja and Axar, Ashwin at No.8. Ashwin will be really confident after what he did at the SCG, Axar can contribute with the bat. So, India needs about 350-odd runs, and they have got the bowling attack to get England out,” said Gambhir on Star Sports’ Game Plan.

Also Hardik Pandya and Ishant Sharma is not part of Gambhir Playing X1.

Here is the complete list of team members which have been selected by Gambhir for the first Test against England.

Gautam Gambhir’s Playing XI– Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Ravi Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj.