India captain Rohit Sharma announced two big changes for the second ODI against England as the tourists won the toss and opted to bat first in Cuttack on Sunday. Virat Kohli marked his much-anticipated return to the team's playing XI after missing the series opener due to a knee injury. It was Shreyas Iyer who had replaced him in the team during the last match but the middle-order batter retained his place in the team after hitting an explosive half-century. It was Yashasvi Jaiswal who was dropped to make space for Kohli in the playing XI this time.
Rohit also announced a straight swap between Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy for the second ODI, handing the latter his ODI debut. Though Rohit claimed that Kuldeep was 'rested' for the match, the call is rather strange considering the Nagpur ODI was the first international outing for the chinaman spinner since October last year.
"It was a good performance in the first game. That's what I loved about it. The energy was very good despite not being on the field for a while. It was superb to watch after losing two wickets. Shreyas prides himself on that intent and attitude, not to forget the contributions of Shubman and Axar as well. Black soil pitch, not sure. Maybe play on the slower side, that's what I expect. Two changes, Jaiswal makes way for Virat. Kuldeep is rested so Varun makes his debut," Rohit said during the toss.
It also has to be noted that Varun Chakravarthy, at the age of 33, became the oldest debutant for India outside of their inaugural match in the ODI format in 1974.
England Playing XI: Philip Salt(w), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(c), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy