England announce XI for 2nd Test against India; Anderson returns, debut for Bashir

England announced their playing XI for the second Test against India set to begin on Friday at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Sticking true to their aggressive style, the Ben Stokes-led side announced their XI a day before the match. Quite expectedly, left-arm spinner Jack Leach was ruled out due to a knee injury he suffered during the Hyderabad Test. He has been replaced by Sohaib Bashir, who will become the second debutant of this tour for the visitors after Tom Hartley.

Bashir, an off-spinner, arrived in India on Sunday after getting his visa clearance. The tall Somerset lad although with only six first-class matches behind his back, has impressed captain Stokes in the preparatory camp held in Abu Dhabi in the lead-up to the India series. Bashir was a surprise inclusion in the squad. It was Stokes who insisted on roping in the 24-year-old after seeing him bowl a decent spell to legendary England opener Alastair Cook during a County Championship match last year.

In his first nets session at Visakhapatnam, Bashir reportedly troubled the England batters. He could be a handful against an inexperienced Indian batting unit.

The other big news is the return of James Anderson as the lone specialist pacer. The Lancashire veteran will replace Mark Wood in the XI. Wood was preferred over Anderson in Hyderabad mainly because of his pace and uncanny knack of picking a wicket out of nowhere. But after noticing the amount of reverse he was able to extract, the England team management decided to go with Anderson, who is on his seventh tour to India and is one of the best exponents of reverse swing.

There was an indication that England might field four spinners in their XI but with Joe Root doing the job of a fourth spinner quite efficiently, they decided not to go over the board. The other two spinners in the side are Hartley and Rehan Ahmed.

England XI for 2nd Test vs India: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes(c), Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.