English cricket team in India in 2020–21

Originally, England were scheduled to tour India in September and October 2020 to play the ODI and T20I matches.[6] However, after the 2020 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[7] the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) was rescheduled to be played in its place.[8] In February 2020, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that they would like to play a day/night Test match at the refurbished Motera Stadium.[9] The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed the changes to England's tour in August 2020.[10]

On 20 August 2020, Sourav Ganguly, president of the BCCI, said that India would host England to fulfil their Future Tours Programme (FTP) commitments.[11] In September 2020, the BCCI were also in discussions with the Emirates Cricket Board with regards to using the United Arab Emirates to host the series, due to the COVID-19 situation.[12][13] Later the same month, Sourav Ganguly reiterated that it was a "priority" to host the matches in India, and that the BCCI were continuing to monitor the COVID-19 situation.[14]

The tour's itinerary originally was scheduled to have five Tests, three ODIs and three T20I matches.[15] However, in November 2020, Sourav Ganguly confirmed that one of the Test matches had been dropped with two more T20I matches added to the tour, in preparation for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.[16] On 1 January 2021, the Government of India announced that up to 50% of fans would be allowed in stadiums for sporting events, and it was expected that the BCCI would also allow fans in the stadiums for the series.[17] Initially, the BCCI and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) took the decision not to allow fans into the stadium for the first two Test matches.[18][19] However, the decision was later reversed, with up to 50% of fans allowed to attend the second Test.[20] On 27 January 2021, the England team arrived in Chennai to begin their quarantine ahead of the first Test.[21]

The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that Nitin Menon would be one of the on-field umpires for the first two Test matches.[22] Anil Chaudhary and Virender Sharma were also named as on-field umpires for the first and second Tests respectively, with both of them making their debuts as Test cricket umpires.[23]

Ahead of the first Test, Channel 4 secured the live broadcasting rights for the whole tour.[24] The last time the channel screened live international cricket in the United Kingdom was for the 2005 Ashes series.[25] It is also the first full broadcast of an England overseas Test series on terrestrial television in the United Kingdom.[26]

Tests		ODIs		T20Is
India[27]	England[28]	India	England	India	England
Virat Kohli (c) Ajinkya Rahane (vc) Mayank Agarwal Ravichandran Ashwin Jasprit Bumrah Rahul Chahar Shubman Gill Shahbaz Nadeem Hardik Pandya Rishabh Pant (wk) Axar Patel Cheteshwar Pujara KL Rahul Wriddhiman Saha (wk) Ishant Sharma Rohit Sharma Mohammed Siraj Washington Sundar Shardul Thakur Kuldeep Yadav	Joe Root (c) Jofra Archer Moeen Ali James Anderson Dom Bess Stuart Broad Rory Burns Jos Buttler (wk) Zak Crawley Ben Foakes (wk) Dan Lawrence Jack Leach Ollie Pope Dom Sibley Ben Stokes Olly Stone Chris Woakes

On 19 January 2021, the BCCI named India's squad for the first two Test matches.[29] They also named K. S. Bharat, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar and Priyank Panchal as standby players, and Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham and Saurabh Kumar as net bowlers.[30] Two days later, the ECB announced England's squad for the first two Test matches, with James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson, Ollie Robinson and Amar Virdi named as reserve players.[31] Ollie Pope was not originally named in England's Test squad after sustaining an injury against Pakistan, but was added to the squad on 3 February 2021, after the England medical team were satisfied he had recovered sufficiently.[32] The following day, Zak Crawley was ruled out of England's squad for the first two Tests with a wrist sprain.[33] Ahead of the first Test, Shahbaz Nadeem and Rahul Chahar were added to India's squad, after Axar Patel was ruled out of the match with a knee injury.[34]

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