England win toss, to bat first against India

Cricket - England & India Nets & Press Conference - Edgbaston, Birmingham, Britain - July 31, 2018 England's Joe Root shares a joke with Head of Team Communications Danny Reuben during the photocall Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

(Reuters) - England captain Joe Root won the toss and chose to bat in the opening test of the five match series against India at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Wednesday.

"Looks a good surface. Some moisture which should burn off, looks good to bat... The selectors gave us good options and I am happy with the personnel we have," Root said.

India have opted to leave out batsman Cheteshwar Pujara in favour of Lokesh Rahul, who has been in fine form in recent months.

Cricket - England Press Conference - Edgbaston, Birmingham, Britain - July 31, 2018 England's Joe Root during a press conference Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

Teams

England - Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (captain), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.

India - Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma.

(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)