Team India surprised many with as many as three changes in the playing XI for the second Test against New Zealand in Pune on Thursday, October 24. While dropping Kuldeep Yadav was a surprising call given how good the left-arm wrist spinner has been in recent times across formats for India, however, the expected call of KL Rahul getting dropped felt bizarre, especially after head coach Gautam Gambhir throwing his weight behind the middle-order batter on the eve of the game.
"You don't pick players based on social media noise or what the experts are saying," Gambhir stressed on Wednesday. "What matters is the team's belief and the leadership group's confidence. Ultimately, players are judged over time, not by one or two innings, Gambhir added and hence Rahul's omission felt a bit off-putting after all the backing talks.
For the fans on social media, it felt like a win as they reckoned that for the first time social media selected a playing XI.
Apart from Rahul, Mohammed Siraj was also left out with Shubman Gill, Akash Deep and Washington Sundar coming into the side. With New Zealand having four left-handers in the top eight, India decided to go in with an extra off-spinner, who also shores up the batting side of things a bit.
New Zealand skipper Tom Latham won the toss and opted to bat on a surface that seemed like it would turn from Day 1. The wicket was dry but there were drier patches in the good-length area from which R Ashwin got one to turn and trap Tom Latham in front of the wickets. However, there hasn't been much for Sundar and even Ravindra Jadeja so far and Devon Conway has played brilliantly for the Kiwis, hitting his second consecutive half-century in the series.
Playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah (vc)
New Zealand: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee, Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, William O'Rourke
