Birmingham, July 2 . Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the second Test against England as India look to manage his workload ahead of the Lord’s encounter, skipper Shubman Gill confirmed at the toss here today.
India, trailing 0-1 in the five-match series, made three changes to the XI, bringing in Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, and Akash Deep.
“We got a good break and this is an important match, but we feel the third Test at Lord’s will offer more for Bumrah. So we’re saving him for that,” Gill explained. “We were also tempted to play Kuldeep Yadav, but considering our lower-order struggles last match, we opted for extra batting depth.”
Earlier, England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to field, citing favourable overhead conditions at Edgbaston. “We’re going to bowl. The overhead conditions support that decision. Last week was a great team effort, but we’re focused on this match now,” said Stokes.
England lead the series 1-0.
India’s playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
England’s playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
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