Chester-le-Street, Sept 3: England won the toss at the Riverside Ground and opted to bowl first in overcast conditions ahead of the first ODI of the five-match series against India.

England and India will both be missing a key player each. An unfit Sachin Tendulkar is absent from the India squad as Ajinkya Rahane makes his ODI debut on the back of an impressive T20I performance against England. For the hosts, Samit Patel replaces Graeme Swann while Ben Stokes makes his debut in front of his home crowd.

Captain speak:

Alastair Cook (England)

On winning the toss and opting to bowl first: “10:15 am start normally means [the pitch] does a bit in the morning.

On Graeme Swann: “He has been an outstanding performer for us the last couple of years. But [his absence] give Samit [Patel] an opportunity to come in and take that chance.”

MS Dhoni (India)

On losing the toss: “We were looking to bowling first [too]. This time of the year the pitch does a bit, which means initially there is a bit of help for the seamers.”

On the squad: “Sachin is not fit for this game so it’s the same team that played the last T20 game. It’s his [Tendulkar’s] feet; there is something wrong with his feet. Can’t do much about it.”

Playing XIs:

England: AN Cook(c), C Kieswetter(wk), IJL Trott, EJG Morgan, IR Bell, BA Stokes, SR Patel, TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson, JW Dernbach

India: AM Rahane, PA Patel, R Dravid, V Kohli, RG Sharma, SK Raina, MS Dhoni(c,wk), R Ashwin, P Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, MM Patel