Match: India v England, 1st Test
Date: 9 November, Wednesday to 13 November, Sunday
Time: 12pm SGT/9:30am IST/4am GMT
Venue: Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot
TV Channel: In Singapore, the live TV coverage will be on Star Cricket.
Live Streaming: Hotstar
Overview
India host England in the first of the five-match Test series in Rajkot from 9 November.
The primary agenda for Virat Kohli's men in the upcoming Test series would be to improve their record against the Englishmen. While India have had positive results against top Test sides Australia, South Africa and New Zealand in the recent past, Cook's men have been a tough nut to crack.
England did the impossible in 2012 on their tour to India by beating the hosts 2-1 in a four-match series and are still the only side to have beaten the Asian giants at home in the last 12 years.
However, Kohli's Team India are heading into the Rajkot Test on the back a dominant performance against New Zealand, which saw the visitors being whitewashed 3-0.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja continued to bamboozle opposition batsmen at home picking up 41 wickets in the three-Test series against New Zealand.
India are likely to continue with Gautam Gambhir at the top in the absence of injured regulars Lokesh Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan. Either Hardik Pandya or Karun Nair will make their Test debut on Wednesday to replace unfit Rohit Sharma.
Also, Kohli, who has a dismal average of 20.22 against England, would want to prove a point to the visiting team this season.
Meanwhile, England's weakness against spin was exposed even before they landed in India. Cook's men suffered their first Test defeat in Bangladesh after their batsmen were found wanting against 19-year-old spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who finished the two-match series with 19 wickets.
England batting unit will depend on skipper Cook and Joe Root to stand up against the Indian attack. Also, their spinners will look to exploit Indian batsmen's weakness against spin, which Moeen Ali beautifully exposed in their home series in 2014.
TV Schedule
Singapore: Star Cricket
Malaysia: Astro Cricket
UK: Sky Sports 2
US: Willow TV
Middle East: OSN Sports Cricket
Team News
India
Possible XI: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami
England
Possible XI: Alastair Cook (c), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Gary Ballance, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, Steve Finn
