England won the toss and decided to bat first against India in the opening Test of the five match series in Edgbaston on Wednesday. But the biggest talking point even before the start of the match was Virat Kohli’s Playing XI.

India included in-form KL Rahul in place of seasoned Cheteshwar Pujara and persisted with Shikhar Dhawan as the opener, despite his double duck in the warm-up game against Essex. The visitors are going in with single spinner in Ravichandran Ashwin.

The decision to drop Pujara was furiously debated over social media and will continue to be discussed over the course of this match. Each time Dhawan comes out to bat. Each time a catch is dropped in the slips. Each time KL Rahul walks in. Each time India will find itself in trouble. Each time Kohli looks around for help. Each time the camera pans on Pujara in the dressing room.

Pujara scored only 172 runs in six County matches, 12 innings and averaged 14.33 with a high score of 41. In between, he scored 35 against Afghanistan. His form wasn’t the greatest and that planted a seed of doubt in Kohli’s mind. That seed has now grown into a beanstalk.

But it wasn’t just that. If the Edgbaston wicket was a green top, Kohli would have still gone with Pujara. Instead, it looks like a good batting wicket — where the need of the hour might be to score quick runs and not just stay at the wicket.

Dhawan is also the only left-hander in the line-up. Having two right-handers open the innings would allow Anderson and Broad to quickly settle into a rhythm. A left-hander makes it that little bit more difficult if the batsman can stay there long enough.

Irrespective of the reasoning, Pujara’s exclusion sent twitter in a tizzy with outrage, explanation, and of course, the inevitable jokes. Have a look

The numbers

The outrage and explanation

The inevitable jokes