Ahmedabad, Feb 24 (FN Agency) Really interesting to see India going the traditional way of playing just two pacers at home even for this game. The pink ball is expected to assist pacers longer than the red ball. Probably the pitch not being really green forced this thought process. England meanwhile have gone with just one spinner in Leach.
Virat Kohli: We would have batted first as well. We would look to get into the game early on. The practice wickets have been quite spicy. Something that we have enjoyed as a team. It is such an exciting atmosphere here at the largest cricket stadium. I am a bit worried about the lights. We have played in a similar stadium in Dubai. You need to adapt pretty quickly. Bumrah comes in for Siraj and Washington Sundar comes in for Kuldeep Yadav. We wanted to have a spinning option and Washi provides a lot with the bat as well. And having cushion with the bat helps especially in this situation when we bat second as the game could be evened out after the first innings.
Joe Root: We are gonna bat first. Hopefully, we will get a big score like the first Test. Hoping the wicket will dry out as the game goes along. It is certainly harder and seems to swing more compared to the red ball. We are very excited to be here 1-1 and are looking to do well. Four changes. Anderson, Archer, Bairstow, Crawley back in. Burns, Lawrence, Stone, Moeen Ali out.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah
England (Playing XI): Dominic Sibley, Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root(c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes(w), Jofra Archer, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, James Anderson