1st Test: England elect to bat, India include left-arm spinner Nadeem
Chennai: England captain Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test against India at the M A Chidambaram stadium here on Friday.
For India, veteran pacer Ishant Sharma and seasoned left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem are back in the playing XI along with regular skipper Virat Kohli who is back from paternity break.
Star all-rounder Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Rory Burns returned to the side after missing the series in Sri Lanka while Zak Crawley misses out due to injury. England picked James Anderson over Stuart Broad in the eleven.
Root is playing the 100th Test match of his career after having made his debut during the series against India in 2012.
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishab Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Shahbaz Nadeem.
England: Joe Root (captain), Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Ollie Pope, Dan Lawrence, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Jofra Archer, Dom Bess, James Anderson, Jack Leach.
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BJP turning EC into tool for vote chori: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the BJP is turning the Election Commission into a "tool" for "vote chori".
Sharing a clip of his speech during a discussion on election reforms in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Gandhi said on X, "India's public is asking these 3 very important and direct questions: 1. Why was the CJI removed from the EC selection panel? 2. Why was almost complete legal immunity given to the EC before the 2024 elections? 3. Why the hurry to destroy CCTV footage within 45 days?"
"The answer is one - BJP is turning the Election Commission into a tool for vote theft," the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said.
In a no-holds-barred attack, Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the BJP and the Election Commission were "colluding to destroy" India's democracy and "rob people of their voice".
Participating in the discussion on election reforms, Gandhi claimed the BJP is "directing and using" the Election Commission to damage India's democracy.
Making suggestions, Gandhi called for providing machine readable voter list to all parties one month before elections, taking back the law that allows destruction of CCTV footage after 45 days, giving access to EVMs, and changing the law that allows election commissioners "to get away with whatever they want to do".
