India will lock horns against England in the second Test match at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam from Friday onwards. India was stunned in the opening Test match by 28 runs as Ollie Pope played a magnificent knock of 196 runs.
Furthermore, Tom Hartley registered impressive figures of 7-62 on debut to help the visitors seal a memorable win. Meanwhile, India would be kicking themselves as they could not capitalize after taking a huge lead of 190 runs in the first innings.
With Mohammad Shami and Virat Kohli not being part of the squad, India woes have manifolded with KL Rahul and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja being ruled out of the second game due to their respective injuries.
The Indian selectors have added Sarfaraz Khan, Saurabh Kumar, and Washington Sundar to the squad and it will be interesting to note the team’s final XI. India might replace Ravindra Jadeja with Kuldeep Yadav as the left-arm wrist spinner has got the variations under his repertoire.
India’s inexperienced batting was put under the cosh in the second innings and the likes of Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer will aim to prove their mettle.
On the other hand, England spin head Jack Leach is unlikely to be available for the second Test after suffering a knee injury and thus Shoaib Bashir is likely to make his debut.
Match Prediction: Despite losing the opening Test match, India will still start as favorites against England.
India’s squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Sourabh Kumar.
England squad: Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood.
