India vs England, 2nd Test: Toss result and playing XIs for today's match, umpires list and pitch report
India will face England at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam starting Friday, February 2 in the second Test of the five-match series. The hosts are 1-0 down in the contest, having lost the opening match by 28 runs in Hyderabad. Chasing a target of 231 in the fourth innings, they were bowled out for 202.
Apart from losing the first Test in Hyderabad, the hosts suffered a few injury setbacks during the game as well. Senior batter KL Rahul and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja have been ruled out of the second Test. While Rahul complained of right quadriceps pain, Jadeja suffered a hamstring injury. India are already without Virat Kohli, who pulled out of the first two Tests citing personal reasons.
As is the norm with England these days, they announced their playing XI a day ahead of the match. With left-arm spinner Jack Leach being ruled out due to injury, young off-spinner Shoaib Bashir has been handed his Test debut. Also, veteran pacer James Anderson comes back for Mark Wood.
IND vs ENG 2nd Test toss result
India have won the toss and have decided to bat first. Speaking of the decision, Rohit Sharma said:
“Looks like a good pitch. The pitch is going to do its thing; we just have to play good cricket.”
Speaking of changes in the Indian team, batter Rajat Patidar has been handed his Test debut. Pacer Mohammed Siraj has been rested for the Test; Mukesh Kumar and Kuldeep Yadav come in.
IND vs ENG 2nd Test match playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat (w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson
IND vs ENG 2nd Test pitch report
Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik reckon the wicket looks like a beauty to bat on. The top layer is in black soil, while below there is red soil. They do not expect much turn on Day 1 and feel that it's win toss, bat first kind of wicket. The two also expect spinners to come into the contest later in the Test.
IND vs ENG 1st Test match players list
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Rajat Patidar, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Sarfaraz Khan, Avesh Khan, Saurabh Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Dhruv Jurel
England squad: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson, Daniel Lawrence, Gus Atkinson
IND vs ENG 2nd Test match umpires
On-field umpires: Chris Gaffaney, Marais Erasmus
TV umpire: Paul Reiffel
Match Referee: Richie Richardson