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Ben Stokes opts to bowl as Jasprit Bumrah misses out in second India-England Test

England fielded an unchanged side that won the opening Test by five wickets

PTI, Reuters
Published 02.07.25, 04:01 PM

England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bowl against India, who will be without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, in the second Test of the five-match series here on Wednesday.

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England's Ben Duckett, Harry Brook and Joe Root line up during the national anthems before the match. (Reuters)

England fielded an unchanged side that won the opening Test by five wickets.

India decided to rest premier pacer Bumrah with Akash Deep replacing him. While all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar came in for Sai Sudharsan and Shardul Thakur in the playing XI.

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India's captain Shubman Gill performs stretching exercises before the start of play on day one of the second cricket test match between England and India at Edgbaston in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP/PTI)
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Jasprit Bumrah will return to the Indian playing eleven against England in the third Test at Lord's next week, captain Shubman Gill said on Wednesday.

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India head coach Gautam Gambhir with Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep during the warm up before the match. (Reuters)

Asked why Bumrah was left out, India skipper Shubman Gill said: "Just to manage his workload, this is an important match but third match being at Lords, there will be a bit in the wicket, and we thought we'll play him there."

"We were tempted to play Kuldeep (Yadav) but decided to add some depth to the batting." The third Test is scheduled to start on July 10.

The Indian team management had declared at the start of the series that Bumrah will only play in three Tests out of five.

There was also no Kuldeep Yadav and Gill said they looked to add depth to the batting following the defeat in the series opener.

"We were tempted to play him but we thought of adding a bit of depth in our batting," said Gill.

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Yashasvi Jaiswal before walking into the ground for the first innings. (Reuters)

Meanwhile opener Yashasvi Jaiswal retained his fourth position in the ICC Test rankings to remain the highest-ranked Indian, while captain Shubman Gill slipped one spot to 21st.

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England players line up during the national anthems before the match. (Reuters)

England will wear black armbands on Wednesday in memory of former England, Northamptonshire and Durham cricketer Wayne Larkins, who passed away on June 28.

England had chased down 371 on the final day to win the first Test at Headingley.

Teams:

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.

Ben Stokes Toss Jasprit Bumrah
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