BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom, July 1, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - England captain Ben 
Stokes won the toss and elected to field in the Covid-delayed fifth Test 
against India at Edgbaston on Friday.

Stokes started his reign as skipper with a 3-0 series whitewash of Test world 
champions New Zealand, bowling first on each occasion, and was able to repeat 
the formula in Birmingham after the coin fell in his favour.

"We've done well chasing in recent games but the toss was dictated by the 
overheads," said Stokes on an overcast morning. "The pitch looks good and 
we'll try to put them under some pressure.

"As I've made it quite clear, we'll be coming out with the same attitude 
towards playing Test match cricket."

India were without captain Rohit Sharma on Friday due to the coronavirus, 
with fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah leading the side for the first time in his 
absence. Cheteshwar Pujara replaced opener Rohit in the XI.

- 'Biggest privilege' -

Bumrah, also speaking at the toss, said: "It's a good feeling, a massive 
achievement for me and the biggest privilege in our sport.

"I'm very happy with our preparation, we played a practice game at Leicester 
and now it's about bringing it into the game."

England had already announced their XI on Thursday, with all-time leading 
wicket-taker James Anderson returning from an ankle problem to replace 
debutant stand-in Jamie Overton.

Sam Billings, a Covid substitute for Ben Foakes in the third Test at 
Headingley, was behind the stumps again with England's first choice 
wicketkeeper still not fully fit.

Friday's match should have been played in Manchester last September only to 
be postponed just hours before the scheduled start because of coronavirus 
concerns within the India camp.

England's team contains just four survivors from the team -- Joe Root, Ollie 
Pope, Jonny Bairstow and Anderson -- that lost to India at the Oval last year 
to fall 2-1 behind in a five-match series. 

India again omitted leading off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, as they did in 
each of last year's four Tests in England. 

All-rounder Shardul Thakur was included, with India's formidable pace attack 
supported by slow left-armer Ravindra Jadeja.

Pujara, without a Test century since 2019, was at the top of the order 
missing Rohit and injured fellow opener KL Rahul, who both scored heavily in 
England last year.

Former captain and star batsman Virat Kohli was also looking to end a three-
year run without a Test hundred.

India are bidding for a first series win in England since 2007 and just their 
fourth in all after successes in 1971 and 1986.

By playing the game, albeit almost a year later in what has become the 
longest-running series in Test history, India are helping to fill what would 
be a o40 million ($48 million) hole in English cricket's finances.

Since September last year, England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive 
Tom Harrison has left his post, as has chairman Ian Watmore.

Chris Silverwood is no longer the England coach and Root has stepped down as 
captain.

Kohli gave up the India captaincy in February and Ravi Shastri retired as 
India coach last November to be replaced by Rahul Dravid.

Teams

England: Zak Crawley, Alex Lees, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben 
Stokes (capt), Sam Billings (wkt), Matthew Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, 
James Anderson

India: Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas 
Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, 
Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah (capt)

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Richard Kettleborough (ENG)

TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)

Match referee: David Boon (AUS)