Welcome to our live coverage for the second Test of the England in India five-match series at Visakhapatnam. England’s turnaround in the first Test in Hyderabad was monumental. From 190-odd runs behind in the first-innings to a 28-run victory, courtesy of an Ollie Pope masterclass and a stunning seven-wicket haul from debut left-arm spinner Tom Hartley.
England have a great opportunity with a weakened India side. As was the case in Hyderabad, Virat Kohli is missing this match but Ravindra Jadeja – who has been as handy with the bat as with the ball in recent times – and KL Rahul, who scored a useful 86 in the first innings will be absent. Few teams who visit here will have as good a chance to go 2-0 up and few will go into a match this buoyant.
England, though, have an injury of their own. Jack Leach picked up a knock on his left knee in the first Test and, though he was able to bowl a few overs at a time in the second innings, but he will not take part. In his place is Shoaib Bashir – who may well have played in the first Test were it not for his visa issues – the tall off-spinner. Bashir has played just six first-class games but England have seen something in him that they like. And with Ben Stokes as captain he is likely to get plenty of overs under his belt.
Captain Ben Stokes believes it will be a “good [batting] wicket for maybe a day or two” before breaking up in the heat.
“I think we always knew what we wanted,” said Stokes. “We looked at the pitch yesterday and again today just to see what change would happen after a day.”
“There’s no worries and no issues for me that he’s [Bashir] been away from the group for a period of time, then coming back in to make his debut. It’s not like he’s forgotten how to bowl, so no conversations like that.”
The only other change is Mark Wood leaves the team and James Anderson comes in, hoping to add to his 690 wickets in his 184th Test match. One way or another I reckon this will be a good watch. We’ll have the toss coming up shortly.
