IND v ENG 2021, 2nd Test: India's predicted playing XI
The absurdity of the COVID-19 era sees two India-England Test matches being played on the same ground. While England would hardly mind returning to the venue of a famous recent victory, India will be sweating hard - not just to shine the ball for another lifeless pitch, but to salvage their pride and fight for ICC World Test Championship points.
Going by the first Test's script, the MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch should favour the batsmen for the first two days before deteriorating thereon. Although India were at the mercy of the toss, the hosts will look to tweak some controllables - their fielding, control with the ball and intent with the bat.
Here is India's predicted playing XI for the 2nd Test against England.
Openers: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill
While Rohit Sharma looked comfortable against the Australian pace attack, he was knocked over early twice by England at home. India do have experienced backups in the form of Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul, but given their intention of backing a steady opening partnership, expect Rohit to continue in the role for at least one more game. Pressure on his place has brought out the best in the past, and Indian fans would be hoping for some runs from Rohit's bat in the 2nd Test.
Partnering him will be Shubman Gill, who outshone his experienced opening partner in terms of both fluency and runs on the board. Though Gill got an unplayable reverse-swinger from James Anderson to keep up his low conversion ratio, he otherwise looked quite comfortable against both pace and spin. A dominant innings to win India the game should only add to his already burgeoning reputation.