New Zealand, opting to bat first at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune on Thursday, won the toss for the second Test against India; and Akash Deep, Washington Sundar, and Shubman Gill have made it to the Indian playing eleven. The Indian team needs to bounce back and square the series after suffering an eight-wicket loss at the hands of New Zealand in the opener at Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, New Zealand, leading 1-0 in the three-match Test series, hope to achieve something no other side has since 2012 by winning a Test series in India. New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said pacer Matt Henry is ruled out with a glute niggle and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner replaces him in the playing eleven.
"Surface slightly different to what it was last week.". "Not much grass left. May get some spin as we expect when going to these places." "Clearly a very proud moment for this team. We celebrated that but our focus has quickly shifted to Pune here. It's just adapting to this surface.". Trying to take the confidence we built up from last week. With an aim to save their series-winning streak at home, India have brought in Akash, Washington, and Shubman, who missed the Bengaluru Test due to neck stiffness, in place of Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, and Kuldeep Yadav respectively.
India skipper Rohit Sharma said he would have batted first as well if he had won the toss. Playing a Test match like this one, the first session hasn't gone our way. But we batted really well in the second innings. Take a lot of positives from that and see how we could turn things around here, you know? "Always want to find ways to get back into the Test match when you are behind. That's what we did. Pitch is a little drier, yes." We do understand how important the first 10 overs are," he said. Playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, and Jasprit Bumrah.
New Zealand: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee, Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, and William O'Rourke.
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