The much-awaited India-England first match of the five-match Test series will start from tomorrow. However, India's batting mainstay Virat Kohli is not playing in the first two matches of the series due to personal reasons. Rajat Patidar has been called Kohli's replacement for those two matches.   

Patidar was in Ahmedabad to play for India 'A' team against England Lions. But now he will join the team in Hyderabad from there. In the absence of Kohli, there was no additional specialist batter in the Indian squad. Either of the two wicket-keeper batters Dhruv Jurel and KS Bharat will play as the wicket-keeper batter, India head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed yesterday (January 23). As a result, India have included Patidar in the team as an additional batter.

Patidar played an excellent innings of 158 runs off 151 balls in the first four-day match against the Lions. Besides, Patidar regularly plays first-class cricket in Indian domestic cricket. He scored 4000 runs at an average of 45.97 with 12 centuries.

The first match of the five-match Test series between India and England will be played in Hyderabad on January 25 tomorrow.