Visakhapatnam, Feb 1 (IANS) Young England spinner Shoaib Bashir is set for England debut as the Three Lions have named their playing XI to take on India in the second Test match, which commences on Friday here at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
England made two changes from the side that won the opening Test in Hyderabad with Bashir replacing Jack Leach, who has been ruled out with a knee injury.
Leach jarred his left knee while fielding during England’s thrilling 28-run win over the hosts last week. He aggravated the injury later on in the same match, bowling 10 overs during the hosts’ second innings with a swollen joint.
On the other hand, veteran pacer James Anderson coming in for Mark Wood.
Earlier, skipper Ben Stokes was confident Bashir could perform well on debut if he was selected to partner fellow spinners Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley for the second Test.
“If he was to play on this tour, then the great thing he has on his side is, what is there to lose?” Stokes said.
“That is how I will be thinking about it, if he gets the chance to play: just to make sure I can give him the best experience I possibly can. Because you only play your first Test match once. If he does play, then I will be trying to make it as enjoyable and fun for him as I can,” he said.
England Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (C), Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson
–IANS
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