2nd Test: Akash, Nitish & Washington come in as England elect to bowl first against India

Birmingham, July 2 (IANS) India have brought in Akash Deep, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar as England won the toss and elected to bowl first in the second Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

With India 1-0 down after a five-wicket defeat in Leeds, the biggest question was whether Jasprit Bumrah will play or not at Edgbaston. But with Akash marking his run-up, skipper Shubman Gill confirmed that he will be playing in place of a rested Bumrah.

While Nitish is a like-for-like replacement for seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur, Washington comes at the expense of Sudharsan, who made his Test debut as a number three batter in Leeds. At Edgbaston, Karun Nair will bat at number three after batting at number six at Headingley.

The wholesome changes also mean that India’s quest to pick 20 wickets will have three all-rounders in Nitish, Washington and Ravindra Jadeja, with Akash, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna being the other bowlers.

Captain Shubman Gill said resting Bumrah at Edgbaston is with an aim to make him play in the third Test at Lord’s, starting on July 10.

“Would've bowled first as well. If there's anything in the wicket, it's on the first day. 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 (Yadav) but looking at the last match, our lower order didn't do well, so decided to add some depth to the batting,” he said.

England are leading the five-match series 1-0 after pulling off a thrilling chase of 371 at Headingley a week ago, also their second-highest successful chase in Tests. They had named an unchanged playing eleven for this game, which meant fast bowler Jofra Archer, who has not played a Test since 2021 due to elbow and back injuries, will have to wait for his Test cricket comeback.

“We're going to bowl. Overhead conditions favour it. 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,” said captain Ben Stokes.

Meanwhile, England will wear black armbands in memory of former batter Wayne Larkins, who passed away on June 28. Larkins played 13 Tests and 25 ODIs for England between 1979 and 1991, and hit the winning runs in the side’s famous victory over the West Indies at Sabina Park in 1990.

Playing XIs-

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, and Shoaib Bashir

--IANS

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