England announce squad for second Test versus India

England have announced their team for the second Test match against India at Vizag starting on Friday.

The Three Lions have made two changes with Shoaib Bashir replacing Jack Leach who has been ruled out with a knee injury.

James Anderson comes in for Mark Wood.

England Men’s XI

1. Zak Crawley
2. Ben Duckett
3. Ollie Pope
4. Joe Root
5. Jonny Bairstow
6. Ben Stokes (C)
7. Ben Foakes
8. Rehan Ahmed
9. Tom Hartley
10. Shoaib Bashir
11. James Anderson

Both India and England had injury concerns to contend with. Brendon McCullum might have floated the idea of playing an all-out spin attack against India but that ploy will have to wait as Leach, England’s most experienced spinner in the current squad, was adjudged unfit for the second Test at Visakhapatnam.

In what comes as a hammer blow to India who suffered a rare home defeat in the series opener, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been ruled out of the second Test. On Day 4 of the fixture, Jadeja suffered a hamstring injury while batting. During India’s second innings, Jadeja sprinted for a quick single but was caught short of his ground by a reverse-flicked direct hit from Ben Stokes. He was seen clutching his hamstring towards the end of the run. Rahul, meanwhile, complained of right quadriceps pain.

Sarfaraz Khan, Saurabh Kumar and Washington Sundar have been drafted into the squad for the second Test – all of whom were part of the India A side in the ongoing series against England Lions.