ENG vs IND: Robin Uthappa shares his predicted playing XI ahead of series

Less than seven days to go before the beginning of the highly anticipated England vs. India 5-match Test series. Prior to the series, cricket experts had already started to predict multiple possible outcomes from the competition. This time, former team India wicketkeeper and batter Robin Uthappa picked his favorite XI for the first match of the series.

He showed enough trust in the newly appointed captain of India's Test team, Shubman Gill, and in his boys. Like many others, Uthappa chose KL Rahul as the opener with Yashasvi Jaiswal, and then at number 3, he chose to offer Sai Sudharsan an opportunity.

The number 4 batting position has become one of the most talked-about points, as Virat Kohli used to bat in that particular position. The batter who dared to bat in the slot will definitely need to handle a lot of pressure. Being the leader of the team and the quality Gill possessed as a batter, Uthappa had no second thought about choosing the India captain for number four.

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A mixture of young and experienced candidates 

The 2007 T20 World Cup winner picked Rishabh Pant, the vice captain of the setup, at number 6 and Karun Nair as number 5 to provide balance in the combination. Interestingly, Uthappa liked to go with Nitish Kumar Reddy over experienced Shardul for the all-rounder spot, accompanied by Ravindra Jadeja. For the pace bowling attack, the former cricketer, now cricket expert, did not want much experimentation and preferred experience, mainly by picking Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna. 

"I will have Jadeja. Again, he increased depth, scored runs, and has scored runs in England as well in Test cricket. So I will have him at No. 8. I see Siraj playing that role. Siraj has to be a lot more disciplined, though. One change you will like to see is Prasidh Krishna coming in and Nitish Kumar Reddy again to support the fast bowlers," Uthappa said. 

Robin Uthappa's predicted playing XI:

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill (c), Karun Nair, Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.