Varun Chakaravarthy (Getty Images)

India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bat first in the opening T20I of the five-match series against England at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street. The visitors have made one notable change from the squad that toured Ireland, with Varun Chakaravarthy returning after recovering from a foot injury. Teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, meanwhile, will have to wait for his international debut as India opted for an experienced playing XI featuring three specialist spinners.Speaking after the toss, Iyer said the team had moved on from the disappointing Ireland series and was eager to make a fresh start.Shreyas Iyer (India captain): “We’ll bat first. It’s a great opportunity for us. My second series as a captain, pretty much excited. Got what we wanted and had a practice session yesterday to acclimatize. The Ireland series is history. There’s a decent amount of grass on the wicket, so it’s difficult to predict how it’ll play, but our intent will remain high. We’re going with three spinners.”England captain Harry Brook admitted he would have preferred to bowl first but expressed confidence in his side’s balanced lineup.Harry Brook (England captain): “We would’ve bowled first, but we’re happy with the way things have gone. It looks like a good wicket. The mood in the camp is really good and we’re excited to get the series underway. We’ve got plenty of experienced players like Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Sam Curran, who I can always lean on.”England have rested Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue after their recent involvement in the Trent Bridge Test, paving the way for Luke Wood and Saqib Mahmood to feature in the series opener.

Playing XIs

England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Harry Brook (c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Luke Wood.India: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Further talks then took place before a deal was struck shortly before 17:00 BST, with players seen leaving a meeting at the Vale Resort headquarters just outside Cardiff.

“Media access was postponed today due to ongoing negotiations between WRU representatives and the Welsh Rugby Players Association around employment terms for the new Nations Championship competition,” read a joint statement between the WRU and WRPA.

“These negotiations have now been concluded to the satisfaction of all parties.

“Training preparations for the upcoming match against Fiji at the Cardiff City Stadium have not been affected. Everyone involved is looking forward to a positive result on Saturday and a successful campaign.”

The training schedule may not have been impacted but it is another saga for a group of players who have been drained by off-field issues in recent years.

Strike action was narrowly avoided on the eve of the home fixture against England in the 2023 Six Nations.

Tandy’s reign has also been impacted by uncertainty caused by the WRU’s proposal to reduce the number of men’s professional sides from four to three, a plan it intends to implement by 2028.

The coaching staff and squad members were at the Vale Resort on Wednesday and Thursday is not scheduled as a training day ahead of their opening fixture.

The head coach, who cut his squad down to 33 for the summer Tests on Tuesday, is due to name his side to face Fiji on Thursday morning before facing the media.

The captain’s run, when the squad go through their final preparations, takes place at Cardiff City Stadium on Friday before Saturday’s game.

The opener is followed by away Tests against Argentina in San Juan and South Africa in Durban, with Wales heading into the fixtures after winning an uncapped fixture against the Barbarians at Allianz Stadium.

Brighton have agreed a club record £46m deal with Tottenham Hotspur for Croatia defender Luka Vuskovic.

Brighton had two bids for Vuskovic turned down last month.

However, they have now reached an agreement over a transfer that is also subject to potential additional payments that could take the overall fee to £50m.

The 19-year-old will have a medical when Croatia’s World Cup campaign is over.

They play Portugal in a last-32 tie in the early hours of Friday morning UK time.

Born in Split, Vuskovic came through the academy at local club Hajduk, becoming the youngest player to feature in Croatia’s top flight when he was just 16 – and going on to become his club’s youngest goalscorer.

He agreed a deal with Tottenham in September 2023 that saw him join the club in 2025.

Although he is yet to make his Spurs debut, Vuskovic made 30 appearances on loan with German club Hamburg last season, scoring six goals in the Bundesliga, and is now one of the most highly rated young central defenders in Europe.

He will replace Jan Paul van Hecke in Fabian Hurzeler’s squad.

Ironically, Van Hecke is moving in the opposite direction after Tottenham agreed to pay £52m for the Netherlands international, who had a year left on his Brighton contract.

Here we go again. England are into the knockout rounds of a World Cup, and now the threat of penalties loom over every nerve-jangling game.

England’s relationship with shootouts was, for a long time, a tortured one. They were knocked out of Italia ‘90 by West Germany via the heartbreak of penalties, and suffered defeats by Argentina (1998) and Portugal (2006) in the same way.

The losing streak was finally lifted in 2018 when Gareth Southgate’s meticulous preparation paid off in England’s first-ever World Cup shootout win, against Colombia in the round of 16.

England have since won two shootouts against Switzerland, in 2019 and 2024, either side of that painful Euro 2020 final defeat against Italy.

Roughly a third of World Cup knockout matches go to extra time, and around a quarter go to penalties. Thomas Tuchel has said he believes if England are to go all the way and lift the World Cup in North America, they will most likely need to win two penalty shootouts en route.

Tuchel vowed to pick up where Southgate’s regime left off. “I have – on the highest level, since years and years – a penalty programme that is so easy (for me to) just wait for people to tell me who are the best shooters. We trained it. We have a process in place. So we are prepared.

“This has become such an important part, a very special part of football now, that you can prepare and do the best to be prepared, which we did. We have assistant coaches, we have background staff who just set one of the best programmes in place that I have witnessed. So we know exactly what is going to happen. And the platform is there.”

So who are England’s best penalty takers, and who will step up when the moment comes?

Harry Kane

122 taken, 108 scored (89%)

England’s captain will take the first penalty. He has already scored 19 penalties this season for Bayern Munich and England, including his spot-kick against Croatia during the group stage after it was retaken.

Kane mixes two techniques, sometimes stuttering in his run-up and waiting for the goalkeeper to move first before placing it the opposite side, and sometimes running up and hitting the ball with power. The variation is an important tool to keep goalkeepers guessing.

Kane cleared the bar with his penalty against France in the quarter-finals in Qatar four years ago as England were eliminated from the World Cup. But, remarkably, he then went nearly three years without missing another.

And Kane has never missed in a shootout, in five attempts.

Ivan Toney

62 taken, 58 scored (94%)

Both Toney and Tuchel have insisted the striker is not just in the England squad to take penalties, which is true, but it is fair to assume that if the Al-Ahli striker wasn’t such a master of the art from 12 yards, he would probably be on holiday right now.

Toney’s record is remarkable, justifying his former manager Thomas Frank’s claim that he is the best in the world. His ice-cool technique, staring down the goalkeeper before scoring without looking at the ball, is incredibly impressive and few players have replicated it with such success.

Toney came off the bench to score a penalty in the shootout against Switzerland at Euro 2024, when England scored all five in their most impressive display from the spot. He has not played a minute of football yet at this World Cup, but if England are heading towards a shootout, Tuchel will call for Toney.

Bukayo Saka

16 taken, 14 scored (88%)

Saka was memorably applauded at away grounds at the start of the 2021/22 Premier League season, following the abuse he received in the wake of England’s shootout defeat.

He recovered well, scoring against Switzerland in the quarter-final shootout at Euro 2024. Saka only took two penalties for Arsenal this season but scored them both, and he has missed only once in the past three years.

Marcus Rashford

20 taken, 18 scored (90%)

Rashford was one of the England trio to miss in the Euro 2020 final, along with Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho, for which they received appalling racist abuse. Southgate later regretted bringing Rashford and Sancho on to the field so late in the game, with only seconds left at the end of extra time, giving them no time to get into the rhythm of the match and run off some adrenaline before the high-pressure shootout.

Rashford’s record is pretty impressive, albeit from a smaller sample size than some of his England teammates, and he has scored all of his last 14 penalties in a streak dating back to 2019. However, he has only taken one this season, for England against Serbia in qualifying.

The question with Rashford might be simply whether he is on the pitch. If he starts a knockout game which goes all the way to penalties, there is a good chance Tuchel uses one of his six substitutions to replace Rashford with…

Anthony Gordon

17 taken, 16 scored (94%)

If Rashford is off the field then Gordon will be on it, and he will be charged with taking a penalty should the moment come.

Gordon takes the responsibility for Newcastle and has a very good record, having scored 12 and missed only one since joining the club. He also scored a penalty in a World Cup warm-up win over Costa Rica when Kane was off the pitch.

Jude Bellingham

5 taken, 4 scored (80%)

Bellingham may not have much of a track record taking penalties – he hasn’t taken one for Real Madrid in 18 months, with Kylian Mbappe taking charge from the spot – but the 22-year-old has repeatedly shown he is the type of character to step up in England’s hour of need.

And Bellingham converted the second when England scored five perfect penalties against Switzerland two summers ago.

Declan Rice talked up England’s penalty prowess this week, and he name-checked Bellingham among the leading candidates to step forwards. “I look at this group now, I don’t think there’s a better crop of penalty-takers that England have probably ever had,” Rice said.

Declan Rice

3 taken, 1 scored (33%)

Rice has very little experience from the spot, and what experience he does have was not particularly convincing, missing two of his three for West Ham.

But he scored emphatically during Arsenal’s shootout defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, and is clearly an excellent dead-ball striker, both at corners and free-kicks. He is also a leader on the pitch for England.

Eberechi Eze

9 taken, 7 scored (78%)

Eze is a likely candidate to come on as an impact substitute in a 120-minute match, so he may well be given responsibility from the spot, although he doesn’t have huge experience in that department. He missed one of his four penalties for Crystal Palace, and his only penalty for Arsenal, during the Champions League final shootout, was missed.

One player who probably shouldn’t step up is Ollie Watkins. The striker has always been excellent for England his extra-time goal against Netherlands in the Euro 2024 semi-finals will live long in the memory of supporters. But Watkins’ penalty record reads 13 taken, six scored, seven missed, including misses in both of his most recent two for Aston Villa last year.

Other candidates include Elliot Anderson and Reece James – when he is fit to play – who both scored their one and only career penalty and have track records of converting in shootouts.

And if the shootout runs deep into sudden death, at least England know they can rely on Jordan Pickford, with his hands and his feet…

England’s likely five penalty takers: Kane, Toney, Saka, Rashford/Gordon, Bellingham.

Team India will have high hopes from aggressive opener Abhishek Sharma in the five-match T20I series in England, which begins in Chester-le-Street on Wednesday, July 1. The Men in Blue suffered a shocking 2-0 loss in Ireland recently as their famed top order collapsed. As such, Abhishek will be keen to come up with an impactful effort in England.

Abhishek had a mixed time of it during the two-match T20I series in Ireland. He contributed a quick-fire 49 off 20 in the first match in Belfast, smacking seven fours and two sixes. In the second match at the same venue, he was dismissed for a golden duck as Ireland ended up creating history in unexpected fashion.

Abhishek has played 47 T20I innings so far. Ahead of the England vs India clash in Chester-le-Street, we compare his stats with those of Virat Kohli after the former India captain had also played 47 T20I innings.

Abhishek Sharma vs Virat Kohli – Who has a better average and strike rate after 47 T20I innings?

In 47 T20I innings, Abhishek has scored 1,487 runs at an average of 33.04 and a strike rate of 191.62. In six innings against England, he has scored 288 runs at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 214.92. Also, in six innings against New Zealand, he has 234 runs at an average of 46.80 and a strike rate of 248.93. He has also scored 215 runs in nine innings against South Africa (strike rate 169.29).

After 47 T20I innings, Kohli had scored 1,852 runs at an average of 54.47 and a strike rate of 136.37. In 10 innings against Australia, Kohli had 423 runs at an average of 70.50 and a strike rate of 145.36. Also, in six innings against Pakistan, he had 254 runs at an average of 84.66 and a strike rate of 118.69. Further, in nine innings against England, he had 236 runs at a strike rate of 134.09.

Abhishek Sharma vs Virat Kohli – Who has more 50-plus scores after 47 T20I innings?

In 47 T20I innings, Abhishek has registered 12 50-plus scores – two centuries and 10 half-centuries. He clobbered 135 came off 54 balls against England at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in February 2025. The blazing knock featured seven fours and 13 sixes. He also hit 100 off 47 against Zimbabwe in Harare in July 2024. The innings included seven fours and eight sixes.

(Abhishek vs Kohli – Batting stats comparison after 47 T20Is)

After 47 T20I innings, Kohli had notched up 17 half-centuries. His best at that stage was 90*, which came off 55 balls against Australia in Adelaide in January 2016. The knock featured nine fours and two sixes. He had also hammered 89* off 47 balls against the West Indies at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in the 2016 T20 World Cup. The valiant knock comprised of 11 fours and a six.

Abhishek Sharma vs Virat Kohli – Who has a better record in wins after 47 T20I innings?

In 36 T20I wins (35 innings), Abhishek has scored 1,207 runs at an average of 35.50 and a strike rate of 195.94, with two hundreds and eight half-centuries. In nine losses, he has 177 runs, averaging 19.66 at a strike rate of 173.52, with one fifty. The 25-year-old has also scored 61 runs in one tied T20I and 42 in two matches that produced no result.

(Abhishek vs Kohli – Batting stats comparison in wins after 47 T20I innings)

In 33 wins (31 innings), Kohli had scored 1,296 runs at an average of 68.21 and a strike rate of 133.19, with 13 half-centuries. In 17 losses (16 innings), he had scored 556 runs at an average of 37.06 and a strike rate of 144.41, with four fifties.

Abhishek Sharma vs Virat Kohli – Who has a better record in chases after 47 T20I innings?

In 20 chases (19 innings), Abhishek has scored 490 runs at an average of 27.22 and a strike rate of 198.38, with three half-centuries. In 28 T20Is while batting first, he has totaled 997 runs at an average of 36.92 and a strike rate of 188.46, with two hundreds and seven half-centuries.

(Abhishek vs Kohli – Batting stats comparison in chases after 47 T20I innings)

In 26 matches in chases (22 innings), Kohli had scored 1,038 runs at an average of 86.50 and a strike rate of 134.98, with 11 half-centuries. In 25 T20Is while batting first, he had 814 runs at an average of 37 and a strike rate of 138.20, with the aid of six half-centuries.