VISAKHAPATNAM, India, Nov 17: India won the toss on Thursday and opted to bat in the second test against England.
The hosts have made two changes to their line-up. Fit-again opener K.L. Rahul comes into the eleven ahead of Gautam Gambhir. Off-spinner Jayant Yadav was handed his test debut, replacing leg-spinner Amit Mishra.
England too made a change. James Anderson was declared fit and took the place of Chris Woakes, who has had a high workload over recent series.
South Africa wins toss and bats 1st in 2nd test vs. England
India continued its strategy of playing five bowlers, with Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav retained ahead of the more-experienced Ishant Sharma. The visitors too retained six bowling options.
The pitch bore a dry look, devoid of any grass, and should assist spinners than in the drawn first test.
___
India: Murali Vijay, K.L. Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.
England: Alastair Cook (captain), Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root, Ben Duckett, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jonathan Bairstow, James Anderson, Zafar Ansari, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad.