ENG vs IND | England announce playing XI for the Edgbaston Test

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have announced their playing eleven, which will take on India for the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston starting July 1.

England's most successful Test bowler James Anderson returns to the side after getting the clearance from the medical team. He'll replace all-rounder Jamie Overton in the playing XI. England's Test skipper confirmed that it's the only change in the playing eleven which won the last Test against New Zealand.

Sam Billings will continue to keep the wickets for England in the Test match against India as Ben Foakes has failed to make a full recovery from a stiff back and COVID-19. Billings was called up as a COVID-19 replacement during the victory over New Zealand at Headingley following Foakes' positive test, and he will keep hold of the gloves at Edgbaston. 

Before Billings joined the team, Jonny Bairstow kept the wickets for his team. With no Foakes, it was expected that England might replace him with a specialist batter- Harry Brook, who's been in exceptional form with the bat in the County Championship for Yorkshire. But Stokes and management have kept their faith in Kent's Sam Billings as they want Barstow to concentrate on his batting.

"Unfortunately, Foakesy (Ben Foakes) hasn't recovered as well as we'd have liked him to. So Sam (Billings) is going to stay in the team and keep," Ben Stokes said on the eve of the match.

"(Foakes) hasn't really recovered from last week and doesn't feel like he could give the best account of himself this week. So we took the decision out of his hands and said, 'get yourself better."

"Jamie (Overton) got his opportunity to show what he can do. He gave the best account possible. We see a bright future for him with England going forward. He can walk away knowing he's done everything possible to have a good career for England," Stokes said on the omission of the Surrey all-rounder.

"Ben Foakes is our keeper going forward. We want Jonny Bairstow to concentrate on doing what he's doing with the bat,"

The English skipper also offered another opportunity to Zak Crawley to prove his worth despite a poor string of scores since his last hundred in the West Indies tour. The Kent batter has scored just 86 runs in the three Tests versus New Zealand, with the highest score of 43 runs while opening the batting with Alex Lees.

"This team is going to be given a lot of time to perform. Zak (Crawley) is still in my plans to make this test team great again regardless of what happens here," Stokes said on Crawley's current run of form.

England's playing XI for the Edgbaston Test against India: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (Captain), Sam Billings (Wicket-keeper), Matthew Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, James Anderson.