India players line up during the national anthems before the match.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
England skipper Ben Stokes opted to bat in the opening Test of the five-match series against India here on January 25.
India picked left-arm spinner Axar Patel ahead of Kuldeep Yadav.
K.L. Rahul is set to bat at No 4 in the absence of Virat Kohli, while Srikar Bharat will be the man behind the stumps.
England handed debut cap to lanky left-arm spinner Tom Hartley.
Teams:India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
England: Ben Stokes (c), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood and Jack Leach.
