England, leading the five-match Test series 1-0, have made two changes for the second match against India.
England pace legend James Anderson is 10 wickets away from 700 wickets mark. AP
England have made two changes for the second Test against India that gets underway on Friday. Shoaib Bashir and Jimmy Anderson have come into the playing XI for the contest in Visakhapatnam with Jack Leach and Mark Wood sitting out.
Leach picked up a knee injury while fielding in the opening Test, which England won by 28 runs, and had missed the practice session on Wednesday. Bashir comes into the playing XI as a like-for-like replacement with England once again going for three spinners.
Shoaib Bashir, 20-year-old Somerset offspinner, will thus make his Test debut. He was not in contention for the opening Test after visa complications meant he arrived later in India.
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And once again, England have gone with one seamer as veteran Jimmy Anderson, 10 wickets away from 700 wickets, has come in to do the hard task of making a mark on Indian wickets. Mark Wood, who was used sparingly in Hyderabad, has been asked to sit out after going wicketless in Hyderabad.
It will be Anderson’s 184th Test appearance, and his first of the year, and will complete another lop-sided Test attack, with rest of England’s specialist bowlers boasting a total of just three Test caps.
England lead the five-match Test series 1-0.
England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (C), Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson