India have left out Jasprit Bumrah among the three changes in the second Test against England in Birmingham on Wednesday as the hosts opted to bowl first at Edgbaston. Sai Sudharsan, who made his Test debut in Leeds, and all-rounder Shardul Thakur were also benched.
Akash Deep, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy replaced Bumrah, Thakur and Sudharsan in the Indian playing XI. That means, India will go with two spinners (Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja), considering the slowness of the pitch at Edgbaston.
With Sudharshan out, Karun Nair has been elevated to the no.3 spot with captain Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant batting to no.4 and 5 respectively. Reddy will come at no.6. On the other hand, England had already announced an unchanged XI two days ago.
India vs England 2nd Test playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
What both captains said?
Shubman Gill (IND): Would’ve bowled first as well. If there’s anything in the wicket, it’s in the first day. Three changes – Reddy, Washi and Akash Deep come in. No Bumrah. Just to manage his workload. We did get a good break and this is an important match for us. But the third Test being at Lord’s, we think there’ll be more in that pitch so we’ll use him there. We were tempted to play Kuldeep but looking at the last match, our lower order didn’t do well, so decided to add some depth to the batting.
Ben Stokes (England): We’re going to bowl. Overhead conditions favour it. Did consider everything (bringing Archer into the squad?). Very good team performance last week, we’re confident. You understand the conditions better as you go deeper into the Test. Brains and me and Baz are not three things you put together. Great run chase, great Test to be part of great start to the series. Last week is last week, need to concentrate on this week.
