Everyone was left in a state of shock at the riveting wait before the toss in Kanpur when India’s mighty hitting, Rohit Sharma stepped up to his prominence before going down for the toss. For the second Test, it was assumed that the Team India would play three spinners especially given the fact that the pitch on the ground was made from black soil when spinners are guaranteed a lot of assistance. However, Rohit opted to chase the total after winning the toss and went for an unchanged XI which means all the three pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep were kept in the previous squad.
Nevertheless, it seems that Rohit had earlier not planned to play three seamers in Kanpur. Kuldeep Yadav, who was unavailable for the first Test match against Bangladesh, had an extensive nets session ahead of the start of play to suggest he could also be in contention for the playing XI. However, it appears Rohit and the team management have altered their initial contemptuous intent perhaps due to the weather at Greenfield stadium.
Importantly, Rohit’s call to bowl first on winning the toss at home was the first by an Indian captain in 9 years. The last time India can recall doing this, that is won the toss and opted to bowl first within the confines of home, was against South Africa in Bengaluru in the year 2015. The match had Virat Kohli as the Indian Captain and it ended up as a drawn affair.
“We are going to bowl first. The pitch seems a bit soft, so we have to make early inroads and we want our three seamers to make use of it. We didn’t start well with the bat in the first game, but we found a way to score and the bowlers did the job. I expect no different here (fight from Bangladesh), we will be challenged but we have the experience to bounce back,” said Rohit during the toss.
Bangladesh’s captain Najmul Hossain Shanto had no qualms in choosing to bat first but was relieved to see his counterpart opt to bowl first.
“I’m glad to bat first. We did want to bat first anyway. As a batter, when you start you still have to make sure to score. Hopefully, our batters will score well today. It seems a good pitch to bat on. New ball batting will be crucial though. Two changes. Nahid and Taskin are out. Taijul and Khaled are in,” he stated.
India’s playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
