With two days left for the 1st Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between India and England scheduled to start on Friday (June 20) at the Headingley Cricket Stadium in Leeds, the home team named their playing XI and ended speculation over some key spots.

The big debate over the number three spot went Ollie Pope's way, who managed to retain his spot despite Jacob Bethell impressing in the position against New Zealand last year, where the English vice-captain took up keeping duties and batter lower down the order. Pope scored a century against Zimbabwe last month and got the nod.

Chris Woakes is set to lead an inexperienced pace unit as he will make his first appearance for the national team in any format since December. He will share the pace bowling duties with Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue while skipper Ben Stokes will take up the fourth pacers spot. After an impressive performance against Zimbabwe, where he won the Player of the Match (POTM) for taking nine wickets in the match, including six in the second innings, Shoaib Bashir was selected as the team's lone spinner.

Elsewhere, there were no major surprises as Jamie Smith will continue to keep wickets while Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley will open the batting. Joe Root, Harry Brook, and Stokes will bat at 4,5, and 6 and form an extremely dangerous middle order.

An official confirmation of India's playing XI is only expected after the toss in Headingley. However, vice-captain Rishabh Pant confirmed earlier in the day during a press conference that skipper Shubman Gill will bat at number four. He revealed no decision has been made on the vacant number three spot.

England Playing XI vs India: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.

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