What could be India’s Playing XI for the second Test against England?

Team India suffered a disappointing loss in the first Test of the Anderson- Tendulkar trophy, as they failed to defend a target of 371 against a marauding English batting line-up. Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook piled on the runs as England managed to come from behind to complete a trailblazing win over the visitors. While England must be lauded for their batting approach, question marks loom large over the Indian bowling performance, and a few of their batters. 

They were listless for spells in the second innings and looked a bit devoid of ideas when Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t firing on all cylinders. With the second Test now a few days away, here’s a look at how Team India could line up for the second Test to find a way back in the series. 

Top order

The top order is one area that will most likely stay the same. Yashasvi Jaiswal was poor in the field, dropping a bunch of catches but still pulls his weight in this side as an opening batter. KL Rahul was classy as ever, getting 41 in the first innings and a century in the second. Sai Sudharsan didn’t have the best of starts to his Test career, but the team management is most likely to give him another game before passing judgements. 

Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant were flawless with their batting as well, with the former scoring his first century in English conditions. The latter leveled with Sachin Tendulkar for Test tons in England. Team India would hope for both these batters to continue their fine form in the series. 

Middle-order

Question marks have surfaced over the performance of Karun Nair on his Test return, as he scored a duck in the first innings and a tepid 20 in the second. The management would have expected better from someone of his experience, who recently had a stint in county cricket as well. Nair could be moved along to give a chance to Abhimanyu Easwaran or Dhruv Jurel. Prior to the start of the tour, skipper Shubman Gill emphasised he would make players feel secure. Going by his remarks, Nair can be given a longer rope in the series. 

Ravindra Jadeja wasn’t the most effective with the ball either and hasn’t been for a while now. Sundar would be a handy match-up as well against this English side that has left-handers like Ben Stokes and Ben Duckett but he might not replace Jadeja just yet. 

Bowling

Shardul Thakur was under-bowled and didn’t contribute too much with the bat either, and he seems like the first player to make way in this Indian team. Nitish Reddy is a ready replacement and slots in perfectly at eight as a seam-bowling all-rounder who can also score some handy runs with the lower order. 

Recent reports suggest that Jasprit Bumrah is unlikely to play the second Test. If that is the case, Arshdeep Singh is the most likely bowler to take that spot. While Bumrah will be dearly missed, Arshdeep has been a proven wicket-taker in the limited overs format and Indian fans would hope that he can replicate the same in Tests.

India's predicted playing XI for 2nd Test: 

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.