Mark Wood preferred over James Anderson as only pacer for 1st Test? England captain Ben Stokes reveals reason

England announced their playing XI a day in advance ahead of the first Test against India in Hyderabad with a couple of surprises. Since the 20-year-old off-spinner, Shoaib Bashir has still not arrived, England have decided to hand a debut to left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, who will be sharing the spin duties with Rehan Ahmed and Jack Leach. However, it was surprising to see just the one pacer in England’s bowling line-up even when the skipper Ben Stokes himself was not going to bowl.

Mark Wood, the tearaway pacer got the nod ahead of the veteran James Anderson, as the sole pacer in the line-up and skipper Ben Stokes elaborated in detail about his and the team management’s though behind the decision. Speaking at the press conference, Stokes said, “Obviously, what he brings with his high pace…he is a real impact builder. Bowling the 90 mile an hour with a reversing ball is obviously going to be very difficult to play against.

“He’s another weapon which you can use out here with short, sharp spells, wanting him to be bowling as fast as he can and short periods. There’re no worries about these long spells because that’s how we’re going to use him this week,” Stokes added.

Stokes confirmed that the wily old fox Anderson’s absence was not related to managing workloads or anything and has handled the omission quite professionally. “Jimmy’s incredible professional. You never know how conditions might change and what you might feel as the best setup for your team,” Stokes said. “But now we’re not looking at having to manage Jimmy or his workloads or anything like that. You know, we put him in the spot because we think he’s one of the best performers.”

The ball is going to turn from ball one and England batters will be put to the test against the quality of Indian attack.

England’s playing XI for Hyderabad Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, (c) Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed, Mark Wood, Jack Leach