1st ODI: England win toss, opt to bat, no Kohli, Pant in India playing XI

Feb 06, 2025

Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], February 6 : England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and put India to bowl in the first ODI at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium on Thursday.
After an enthralling T20I series ended with a thumping 4-1 for the hosts, India and England will now shift their action to ODIs. The series will be the perfect opportunity for both sides to finalise their winning combination for the upcoming Champions Trophy.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Harshit Rana received their maiden caps before the toss, marking their ODI debuts for India.
India will be missing the presence of Virat Kohli, who had a knee problem last night.
Along with this, Rishabh Pant is also missing from the playing XI and in his absence KL Rahul will keep the wickets.
On the other hand, England's squad is quite similar to the one that featured in the T20I series. The most notable change came with the inclusion of Joe Root in place of Jamie Overton.
England captain Jos Buttler said after winning the toss, "We will bat first today. Nice thing going in the dressing room, looking forward to these ODIs and we're happy to welcome back Joe Root. The morale has been good, everyone's good and the Baz has looked after us well. We're playing against a top side in their conditions, a tough test ahead of the CT. We're playing 3 spacers and an extra spin-bowling all-rounder."
India captain Rohit Sharma said during the time of toss, "We wanted to bowl first, but it doesn't matter a lot. Need to be aggressive with the ball at the start and then need to do well later. Nice to get some time off, it's a fresh start and this is a great chance to do well. It's very important to get some game time, and try and maximize whatever opportunity we have. Jaiswal and Harshit are making his debut, unfortunately, Virat isn't playing, he had a knee problem last night."
England (Playing XI): Ben Duckett, Phil Salt, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (C), Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami.