LEEDS, England (Reuters) -England won the toss and put India in to bat as the titans of test cricket get their five-match series under way at Headingley on Thursday, with both teams at very different stages of their journey.

Leeds was a vibrant scene ahead of the start of the series opener, with colourful India supporters especially keen to see how their team do without three recently-retired stalwarts of the game: Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.