IND vs ENG: Why is Kuldeep Yadav not playing India vs England first ODI

The India vs England first ODI is being played at Edgbaston, Birmingham. England skipper Harry Brook has won the toss & elected to bat first. However, Indian skipper Shubman Gill stated that he wanted to bowl first. 

Virat Kohli is returning to the India playing XI after missing the Afghanistan series. It means Ishan Kishan is missing this match. The team enters with 4 seamers & 2 spin-allrounders, including Shivam Dube. Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar are the 3 fast bowlers. However, Kuldeep Yadav is not included in the playing XI. Instead of him, Washington Sundar is playing in this match. Indian team enters with 3 all-rounders in this match, including Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel. 

Reports suggest that the reason behind Kuldeep Yadav’s omission from the India playing XI is only a combination. Indian team management wants to go with a lengthy batting unit with Axar Patel slotted at 8. Shubman Gill spoke about the team combination after losing the toss. He said;

“Important series for us; the conditions that we're going to get here would be a little bit more similar to South Africa as compared to where most of the time we play in India. So in that context, the combination- what kind of different combination we can try and some of the players, who haven't had that much experience in this format especially, would get some game time. So it will be really good for us.

“Yeah, definitely most of the seniors are back. We have got Virat Bhai, Rohit Bhai, KL and Boom back in the squad. So the experience is going to be massive for us. 

“We have got four seamers, with Dube, and then we've got two spinners, Axar and Washi.  

India playing XI against England in the first ODI

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna