Virat Kohli’s captaincy will be under scanner again as India will look to level the ongoing four-match series against England in the second Test beginning Saturday here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium to keep alive their chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
India need to win two Test matches and also the series in order to face New Zealand in the WTC final to be held at Lord’s, London in June.
If England win the second Test, India will be out and the fight for the place in the final will be between Australia and England.
India under Kohli have lost two Tests in the last two months whereas they won two out of three Tests in Australia in Ajinkya Rahane’s leadership in the same period.
There have already been calls for Rahane to take over Test captaincy and another loss could see the calls growing louder.
The Joe Root-led side has made four changes from the team that played the first Test as a result of an injury, lack of form and rotation policy.
James Anderson has been replaced by Stuart Broad as part of rotation policy, Dom Bess has been left out due to poor form in second innings of first Test and replaced by Moeen Ali while wicket-keeper Ben Foakes comes in place of Jos Buttler who has flown back to England also as part of the rotation policy.
One of either Chris Woakes or Olly Stone will replace Jofra Archer who is out with a shoulder niggle.
India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane on Friday said that the MA Chidambaram Stadium wicket for the second Test against England is a completely different from the one used for the first Test and will turn from Day One.
“It (pitch) will be completely different. I am sure it will turn from day number one but again as I said before the first Test match, we will have to wait and see how it plays in the first session and then take it from there. We have to forget what happened in the first Test match and focus on this and play good cricket. We know these conditions very well. We have to put our best foot forward tomorrow and play as a team,” said Rahane while speaking to the media on the eve of the second Test. While the first Test — which England won by 227 runs — was played on a red soil pitch, the second Test will be played on a pitch which is a mixture of black and red soil. The surface has a topping of black soil. It has also not been watered because the gap between the first two Tests was just three days and with black soil retaining more water, the pitch wouldn’t have dried.
India, meanwhile, are likely to replace left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem with Axar Patel who is now fit to play. Axar was injured in the first Test which England won by 227 runs.
The key to India will be stopping Joe Root who scored a double century and helped England build a huge total. Root’s 218 had helped England score 578 and put pressure on India who conceded a 241-run lead in the first innings and were put on the backfoot.
The second Test will be played on a black soil pitch that has not been watered for days.