Pandya out, Pujara in: Holding

The respective brains trusts of the two sides that played out an enthralling series opener this week will face some difficult selection decisions in the coming days ahead of Thursday's second Test at Lord's.

Following a see-sawing contest at Edgbaston, England delivered a decisive blow on the game's fourth morning as Ben Stokes grabbed three of India's last five wickets – including the vital scalp of Virat Kohli – to seal a 31-run win.

But the absence of Stokes for the second Test, due to a court appearance in Bristol where he'll be tried for affray, factors as a major boost for an India side that had looked on track for victory on the first Test's penultimate day.

The visitors had dismissed England's last recognised batsman and reduced them to 7-87, ahead by only 100, in their second innings before second-gamer Sam Curran stepped in with a crucial 63 to pave the way for Stokes' final-day heroics.

While they’ll be encouraged by how close they came to a 1-0 series lead, India do have some questions to ponder heading into the second Test.

Chief among their concerns will be how reliant they were on star batsman and captain Kohli, whose 149 and 51 accounted for more than 45 per cent of the tourists' total runs in Birmingham.

Other members of their top-order could come under the microscope, especially given the world's sixth-ranked Test batsman Cheteshwar Pujara was a surprise omission for the first Test.

Pujara averages more than 50 in Tests, but a rough early-season County Championship stint with Yorkshire, in which he managed just 172 runs at 14.33 from six games, counted against him.

Former West Indies quick Michael Holding argued that the 30-year-old should never have been left out and suggested allrounder Hardik Pandya – who made 22 and 31, and went wicketless in England's first innings before not being used in their second – should make way.

"One thing I would like to see India do is … find a way to get Pujara into this team," Holding told Sky Sports. "I do not understand how they are so reluctant to play Pujara. He's too good a player.

"If Kohli had no form, would they leave him out? I'm not saying Pujara is as good as Kohli because Kohli is way above everyone else. But when you have (for example) a Rahul Dravid, a VVS Laxman or a Sourav Ganguly who is not in excellent form, do you leave them out? No.

"Pandya, it seems as if he's the golden boy in this team. Everyone thinks he's going to be the next Kapil Dev. He hasn't shown that yet.

"Why not pick a batsman (instead)? Pandya got a few runs in the second innings but is he a better batsman than Pujara? I don't think so, and you don’t need him as a bowler in my eyes."

Given Stokes' importance to England as both a top-six batter and frontline bowler, the call on his replacement has not only ramifications on personnel, but also on team balance.

Seamer Chris Woakes looms as the most logical replacement but it remains unclear whether England are confident he has sufficient overs under his belt following recent quad and knee injuries.

Woakes' inclusion at the expense of Stokes would also extend England's tail but, on the flipside, replacing him with a batsman would leave skipper Joe Root with just four specialist bowling options.

Twenty-year-old Ollie Pope, who has 684 runs at 85.50 in 10 innings for Surrey in the County Championship this season, and Worcestershire's Joe Clarke, who has been likened to a young Root, are among the contenders should selectors go down the latter route.

The fact both are right-handers could help their causes as the hosts look to negate spin ace Ravichandran Ashwin, who had seven England left-handers to bowl at in Birmingham and duly collected seven wickets for the match - five of them being lefties, including opener Alastair Cook twice.

Other options to come into the side for Lord's include off-spinning allrounder Moeen Ali and paceman Jamie Porter, who were both selected in the first Test squad.

Whichever way they go, Root, tellingly, believes his side may already have unearthed a 'second' Stokes.

"Whenever you watch him (Curran) operate on the field he has this desire and steeliness within him which is similar to Ben - he wants to be involved in the big occasions," the captain said. "That obviously suits playing in Test match cricket and you’ve seen that throughout this game.

"That was a fantastic performance to come into his second Test match under pressure and against the number one Test team in the world and play like that," he added.

"It's like having two Ben Stokes, which is a great thing."