LONDON: England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to field against India in the second Test at Lord's on Thursday.
Both teams were unchanged from the sides that played in the drawn first Test at Trent Bridge last week.
And that meant England included fast bowler James Anderson and India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja after both players were charged by the opposition side for offences under the International Cricket Council's code of conduct following a flare-up at lunch on Thursday's second day of the first Test.
They each now risk being banned from matches during the remainder of this five-Test series should an ICC judicial commissioner, at a date to be announced, uphold the charges. England decided against recalling left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan, whose lone previous Test saw him concede 53 runs in eight wicketless overs against Australia at The Oval last year.
And there was no place again in the India side for off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. After complaints that the Trent Bridge pitch had been excessively docile, it was perhaps unsurprising that a light green pitch offering the promise of seam movement, as well as more pace and bounce, confronted the captains at the toss.
In those circumstances, the decision of under-pressure skipper Cook -- who has gone 25 innings since he scored the last of his England record 25 hundreds -- was understandable.
England have also gone nine Tests without a win, their worst run in more than 20 years, while India have gone 15 Tests without an away victory.
Teams England: Alastair Cook (capt), Sam Robson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Matt Prior (wkt), Ben Stokes, Stuart Broad, Liam Plunkett, James Anderson India: Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wkt), Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) and Bruce Oxenford (AUS) TV umpire: Richard Illingworth (ENG)
Match referee: David Boon (AUS)
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