The second Test between England and India got underway today at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The hosts won the toss and opted to bowl first as they had already announced an unchanged playing XI for the second Test despite including Jofra Archer in their squad. Meanwhile, India have made three changes to their playing XI and after all the suspense over Jasprit Bumrah, he has been rested.
Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akash Deep and Washington Sundar are the three inclusions in their playing XI while Sai Sudharsan has been dropped alongside Shardul Thakur. At the toss, Gill revealed that Bumrah has been rested to manage his workload and keeping in mind the third Test will be played at Lord's.
"If there's anything in the wicket, it's in the first day. Three changes - Reddy, Washi and Akash Deep come in. No Bumrah. Just to manage his workload. We did get a good break and this is an important match for us. But the third Test being at Lord's, we think there'll be more in that pitch so we'll use him there. We were tempted to play Kuldeep but looking at the last match, our lower order didn't do well, so decided to add some depth to the batting," Gill said at the toss.
Why did Ben Stokes opt to bowl first?
Meanwhile, Ben Stokes revealed that the overhead conditions is the reason England are bowling first after winning the toss. Interestingly, Nasser Hussain predicted at the pitch report that the hosts will decide on their decision depending on the conditions at the toss.
"We're going to bowl. Overhead conditions favour it. Did consider everything (bringing Archer into the squad?). Very good team performance last week, we're confident. You understand the conditions better as you go deeper into the Test. Brains and me and Baz are not three things you put together. Great run chase, great Test to be part of great start to the series. Last week is last week, need to concentrate on this week.
Playing XIs
England: 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: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
