Ahmedabad: India won the toss and chose to bowl at the Narendra Modi Stadium in the second T20I on Sunday. India captain Virat Kohli said that opener Shikhar Dhawan and all-rounder Axar Patel have been dropped for debutants Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, respectively.
Meanwhile, England have brought in all-rounder Tom Curran in place of fast bowler Mark Wood, who captain Eoin Morgan said is recovering from a niggle.
“The track was a bit up and down. As much as we want to try things, we want to get a result as well,” said Kohli at the toss about India’s eight-wicket defeat in the first match.
“We’ve got two changes — Shikhar Dhawan’s missing out this game. Ishan Kishan is going to open for us. Suryakumar Yadav also makes his debut, comes in for Axar Patel. These guys are ready, they’ve done so well in the IPL against world-class bowlers already. That’s the advantage of dealing with youth, you don’t really need to say much to them, just unleash them on the field and back them,” Kohli further said.
“Statistically there is an advantage in chasing in T20 cricket. There is a bit of dew that comes in here, but it comes very early on. I don’t think it’ll be a massively high-scoring game, but a good contest. Great experience for us playing in India before the World Cup. One forced change, Mark Wood has not pulled up too well after the first game, Tom Curran comes in. We want to be as flexible as possible. When you play away from home, you need to have as many options as possible,” said Morgan.
England currently lead the five-match series 1-0.
India: Ishan Kishan, K.L. Rahul, Virat Kohli (captain), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal
England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan (captain), Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid
(IANS)
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