The Indian cricket team decided to drop KL Rahul as Shubman Gill made his return to the playing XI for the second Test encounter against New Zealand in Pune. Rahul has struggled for form in the past few matches and his poor show in the first Test in Bengaluru did not help his cause. With Gill coming back after missing the first Test due to a stiff neck, the choice was always between Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan. However, with Sarfaraz slamming an impressive 150 in Bengaluru, the team management decided to drop Rahul. The decision left the internet split with fans coming up with conflicting reactions to the development.
Akash Deep, Washington Sundar and Shubman Gill have been included in India's playing eleven as New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first in the second Test at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune on Thursday.
India are looking to bounce back and square the series after New Zealand won the first Test in Bengaluru by eight wickets. On the other hand, New Zealand, currently leading three-match series 1-0, are looking to do which no other team has managed to do so since 2012 - win a Test series in India.
New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said pacer Matt Henry is out with a glute niggle and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner replaces him in the playing eleven. “Surface slightly different to what it was last week. Not a lot of grass. Might produce a bit of spin as we expect when we come to these parts of the world.”
“Obviously a really proud moment for this group. We celebrated that but our focus has quickly turned to Pune here. It's just about adapting to this surface. Trying to take the confidence we built up from last week.”
With an aim to save their series winning streak at home, India have brought in Akash, Washington and Shubman, who missed the Bengaluru Test due to neck stiffness, in place of Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav respectively.
India skipper Rohit Sharma said he would have batted first as well if he had won the toss. “When you play a Test match like that, the first session didn't go our way. But we batted well in the second innings. We take a lot of positives from that and see how we can turn things around here.”
“Always want to find ways to get back into the Test match when you're behind. That's what we did. Pitch is a little drier, yes. We do understand how important the first 10 overs are,” he said.
Playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah
New Zealand: Tom Latham (captain), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee, Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel and William O'Rourke.
(With IANS inputs)