Harry Brook leads his men to the field. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma follow shortly after. Even the pyrotechnics can't bright up a gloomy and dull Chester-le-Street but, most importantly, it's dry.

It looks like Luke Wood will open the bowling. Here we go.

Deep Dasgupta
Former India wicketkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Quite a few disappointed people back in India [at Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's absence].

Out of the IPL, India's players are used to batting on 220-230 pitches. Coming here, you need to change your game a little bit.

The biggest issue in Ireland was the players not applying themselves.

It's dry at the moment but this doesn't bode well.

So there's no place for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the Indian XI. I'm sure the teenager is gaining plenty of experience just by being in the dressing room, but me - and millions of others - would loved to have seen him make his debut. Meanwhile, some raised eyebrows at India's decision to bat first.

Sir Alastair Cook
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

Both sides feel more confident with their spinners than their seamers.

Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson are two of the first names on the team sheet. It might turn a little bit.

I'm surprised India have batted first. I thought it was a no-brainer to bowl first with some rain around.

England captain Harry Brook at the toss: "We would have had a bowl so we're pretty happy with that result.

"It looks like a good wicket so hopefully we can chase down whatever they put on the scoreboard.

"The mood's really good. We're looking forwards to this series starting against a very strong India side.

"It's good to be back with the lads. That's part of cricket - you've got to get ready for the next series as quickly as you can.

"Having the likes of Jos, Phil, Sam to lean on when I need is really helpful."

India captain Shreyas Iyer at the toss: "This is a great opportunity for us. It's my second series as a captain, so excited.

"We got what we wanted. We got a session of practice yesterday to get acclimatised to the surroundings. Looking forward to an exciting one.

"Ireland series is history. We need to learn a lot from that series. We know how England have been playing, we know their strengths and weaknesses.

"There's a decent amount of grass on the wicket. Can't predict how the wicket is going to play.

"We're going with three spinners - Axar as an all-rounder - and two seamers."

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, Harshit Rana, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy

India captain Shreyas Iyer calls it correctly and India will bat first. Harry Brook says England would have bowled first.

Punters at Chester-le-Street might have one eye on the football, but there is plenty of intrigue here today.

England have little time to dwell too much on Ben Stokes’ retirement and a poor showing in the Test series loss to New Zealand.

Harry Brook - widely tipped as Stokes’ successor as Test skipper - will lead the T20 side against an Indian teem reeling from their own series defeat - a shock 2-0 loss to Ireland.

The big question is whether the tourists will hand 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi his international debut?

Image source, Getty Images

Apparently, there is a big England game happening this evening...

Image source, Getty Images

As the national football team continue their quest to end 60 years of hurt over in Atlanta, England's cricketers - more than 4,000 miles away in Durham - face India in the first of a five-match T20 series.

There is nothing quite like national sporting tension.

Image source, Reuters