Rajat Patidar makes Test debut for India against England at Visakhapatnam; playing XI revealed

India handed debut to Rajat Patidar in the second Test against England which began on Friday (2 February) at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat besides deciding to make three changes to the India’s playing XI from Hyderabad Test but Sarfaraz Khan missed out on a debut. India have brought in Rajat Patidar, Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar in place of KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj. India captain Rohit Sharma declared at toss that Siraj has been rested while the other two changes were forced as both Rahul and Jadeja are injured. Patidar was given his debut cap by former cricketer and legendary pacer Zaheer khan. Rohit Sharma at toss: “What happened in Hyderabad is history and we need to move on. We have spoken about we need to do and now we need to execute on our plans. I thought we batted well in the first innings but didn’t have the same intent later. In the second innings there was a brilliant knock by Ollie Pope.” The BCCI, meanwhile, has informed that Siraj was released to manage his workload. He will be back for third Test. Avesh Khan has joined the India squad as a replacement. “UPDATE: Mr Mohd. Siraj has been released from the India squad for the second Test against England in Vizag,” BCCI said. “The decision was taken keeping in mind the duration of the series and the amount of cricket he has played in recent times. “He will be available for selection for the third Test in Rajkot. “Avesh Khan has re-joined the team for the 2nd Test.” India XI for Visakhapatnam Test: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav England XI for Visakhapatnam Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (C), Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.