 "Ben Stokes and his team will look to win the 2nd Test to go 2-0 up in the series. Image: Reuters")
England have announced their playing XI for the second Test against India at Edgbaston, Birmingham. There are no changes from the team that won the first Test by 5 wickets at Headingley, Leeds. Jofra Archer, who many expected would be included for this match, is still not part of the XI.
England currently lead the five-match series 1-0 after a stunning comeback win in the first Test, where they chased down 371 in the final innings to beat India. Captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum have decided to continue with the same combination.
England’s XI for the 2nd Test
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (Captain), Jamie Smith (Wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
What will be India’s playing XI?
India are expected to make some changes to their playing XI after the loss in Leeds. Pacer Jasprit Bumrah will likely miss out due to workload management and Arshdeep Singh is expected to come in his place. India are also expected to add an extra spinner to the side in the form of Kuldeep Yadav or Washington Sundar.
India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has said that a final call on Jasprit Bumrah will be made in the next 24 hours. He added that Bumrah is available for the match but a decision will be taken based on the conditions, given that he will only play three matches on the tour.
Doeschate also spoke about all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who missed out on the first Test and Shardul Thakur played in the XI.
“He’s very close to getting a game. Obviously, he was fantastic in Australia. Coming into the team and playing the way he did. We just felt on balance for the last game, we wanted to go with the bowling all-rounder. Which we thought Shardul was slightly ahead on the bowling front. We’re looking at ways of rejigging the puzzle, so we can get a batting all-rounder in,” Doeschate said.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Nitish is our premium batting all-rounder at the moment. So I would say it’s a very good chance to play this test,” he added.