India playing XI for first ODI: KL Rahul included, debuts for Krunal Krunal and Prasidh Krishna

Pacer Prasidh Krishna and all-rounder Krunal Pandya will make their ODI debuts on Tuesday when they feature in the first ODI against England in Pune.

The coin toss for the first ODI between India and England, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune, sprung up a few surprises when Indian skipper Virat Kohli announced the playing XI.

Prasidh Krishna has been a regular member of the KKR squad in the IPL. (Twitter (Prasidh Krishna))

The hosts have decided to persist with K.L. Rahul who will keep wickets and bat at number five, meaning the in-form Rishabh Pant misses out.

Moreover, pacer Prasidh Krishna and all-rounder Krunal Pandya will make their ODI debuts. Their selections come on the back of some extremely impressive performance in the domestic circuit of late.

Krishna continued his good performances in the List A circuit as he bagged 14 wickets in seven games for Karnataka in the recently-concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. En route to the semifinal, Krishna returned with figures of 4 for 17 against Bihar; a match Karnataka won by a whopping 267 runs. In the semifinal against the eventual champions Mumbai, Krishna got 3 for 64 and ended the season as his team's highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

On the other hand, Krunal Pandya amassed 388 runs, at an average of 129, in the same tournament. The Baroda all-rounder also pocketed five wickets. The southpaw showed remarkable form as he registered two centuries and two fifties to his name throughout the season.

Another unexpected decision was the inclusion of Kuldeep Yadav, who last turned up for the 'Men in Blue' back in December 2020, against Australia. In that ODI, Kuldeep returned with figures of 1/57 in his quota of 10 overs.

Playing XIs:

India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Prasidh Krishna

England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Ben Stokes, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Jos Buttler (wk), 6 Sam Billings, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Tom Curran, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood