Having scored 0 and 12 runs in the first Test against New Zealand, KL Rahul has been withdrawn from the playing XI for the second Test which is being held at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Bengaluru. In the playing XI, he is replaced by Shubman Gill who was unavailable for the first Test due to an injury.
There were questions on KL’s place after Sarfaraz Khan scored 150 runs in the second inning of the Bengaluru Test. In the two-match Test series against Bangladesh last month, two players were picked, and of the two, KL Rahul was favored, and after that lackluster display, calls for his removal from the playing 11 arose.
India’s head coach though defended him before the match, which was a pointer that Rahul was likely going to retain his place in the playing 11, only for Indian captain Rohit Sharma during the toss to reveal that Rahul would not be part of the squad.
KL aside, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj have also been left out of the playing xi and in their place Washington Sundar and Akash Deep have been called up respectively. Sundar, who last represented India in Test matches in 2021, scored a ton batting at No. 3 for Tamil Nadu in the previous Ranji Trophy match against Delhi at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
He was included in the Test squad following the eight wicket loss of India in the first match of the series on October 20th in Bengaluru. The surprise inclusion of Sundar was because he had been selected ahead of Axar Patel, who has a decent record in Test matches.
Visiting captain Tom Latham lost the toss but decided to bat first in the 2nd Test. The visitors made one change in the playing XI. Mitchell Santner comes in for Matt Henry. Henry took eight wickets in the first match of the series.
Playing XI’s
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, 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, William ORourke
