For the First Time Under Virat Kohli’s Captaincy, India Fields an Unchanged Playing XI in a Test Match
At toss time, when India lost the toss and was asked to bowl by the winning captain Joe Root, the Indian team’s sheet signalled an unprecedented similarity, i.e. the playing XI is the same as it was during the Nottingham Test match.
It was hinted on the eve of the fourth Test match at Southampton by Indian captain Virat Kohli that India might field an unchanged side on Thursday. And just it seemed it was for the first time during skipper Kohli’s captaincy stint that India fielded the same playing XI in two consecutive Test matches.
At toss time, when India lost the toss and was asked to bowl by the winning captain Joe Root, the Indian team’s sheet signalled an unprecedented similarity. The first XI was the same as what it was during the third Test match.
India’s XI at Southampton: Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant, Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami.
Nearly after four years since Kohli took over India’s captaincy, the Indian skipper has played different sides in all the 38 matches he had captained. A one-of-its-kind record. Not only that, if one looks closely at the record books closer, one will find that the last time India played the same playing XI was when MS Dhoni was the captain of India’s Test team.
When Dhoni led India in a Test match against England at Lord’s in 2014, it was then when India had played the same XI. After that, it was the first time, earlier today that India has played the same eleven in consecutive Tests, i.e. after 46 Test matches.
India bounced back with a comprehensive victory in the third Test match after losing two games in the Test series. However, the nature of the win was such that the Indian team management decided to stick with the same winning combination in the fourth match.
Will the same XI be able to repeat their performances in the test match or not is for time to tell! However, if you are looking to follow the latest updates or the live score of India vs England Test Series 2018, you can follow the coverage here!
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 30, 2018 05:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).