India arrived in Birmingham, where they have a seven-loss and one draw record (no wins so far), with more questions than answers for the second Test against England. The visitors had found themselves in a shoo-in position in the opening Test but could not grab their opportunities and also could not capitalise, leaving the door open for the home team.
That they might not play their gun fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah to manage his workload despite a eight-day break, will definitely add salt to their wounds. India has been over-reliant on Bumrah’s shoulders, especially in overseas conditions and the same was palpable in the first innings of the opening Test.
Many cricket boffins have vouched for the selection of Kuldeep Yadav, who could be a wicket-taking option in Bumrah’s absence. India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has also indicated that there is a strong chance the visitors could play two spinners.
Meanwhile, the Indian batters had done a decent job in the opening Test but the lower order must pull up their socks after two batting collapses in the series opener. Furthermore, India was terrible in the field, dropping as many as eight catches, which led to their downfall.
On the other hand, England were able to bounce back whenever they were shown a slight window by the tourists in the opening Test. Ben Duckett was brilliant in the second dig and he is going to hold the key at the top of the order. The home has named an unchanged playing XI for the second Test.
Head to Head: Matches: 137, Won by England: 52, Won by India: 36, Drawn: 50.
England Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
India’s Probable Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana
England squad for 2nd Test: Ben Stokes (C), Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.
