The second match of the series is being played at the ‘home of cricket’, Lord’s.
Virat Kohli and Joe Root (Photo: BCCI)
Joe Root invited Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team to field first after winning the toss in the second Test match of the five-match series on Friday, 10 August.
The second match of the series is being played at the ‘home of cricket’, Lord’s.
After winning the toss, Joe Root said, “We are going to bowl first. Looks a fresh wicket. With the weather around, it gives us a good chance to take wickets this morning. We are going with Woakes ahead of Moeen and Pope comes in. We gave ourselves an option with that green tinge on it looking to bowl first. Gives us a great chance to get wickets and get ahead early in the game. He (Pope) was all excited in the dressing room yesterday, just really hope he expresses himself, exactly how he does in the county and really enjoys the occasion.”
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Virat Kohli said, “We wanted to bowl first to be honest looking at the weather. Not only today but also for the next few days, it’s going to be the same. It’s supposed to be a shortened game. It’s a hard pitch, looks dry. The wicket looks good, much better than Edgbaston and the boys are feeling confident. Everyone has to be in the game – the batsmen, the spinners. We just need to enjoy the game and express ourselves. We have brought back Pujara and KL Rahul moves up the order in place of Shikhar. Kuldeep Yadav comes in the side for Umesh Yadav purely because the surface is dry. We need an attacking wrist spinner and he gives us that option. We have a good balance looking at two spinners, two fast bowlers and a quality all-rounder.”
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma.
England (Playing XI): Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root(c), Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow(w), Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.
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