🏏England tour of India 2025: 2nd T20I: 25/01/25 at 7:00 PM IST🏏 - Page 4

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India

More spin or less? More competitive or otherwise? Don't mind me asking such contrasting questions at the start. Teams have travelled from far east of the country to south - from Kolkata to Chennai - so expect some adjustments and what not. England were undone by spin in the opening encounter but it is not clear how the Chepauk will play - fast bowlers had better returns in IPL 2024 at the venue. England have a potent seam attack, India have a plenty of spin options to turn to. Let's find out how the evening pans out.

India will be forced to make a couple of changes to their XI. A side strain injury during the practice session has Nitish Kumar Reddy ruled out of this series. Rinku Singh is out of the 2nd and 3rd T20I due to a low back spasm that he sustained while fielding in the opening match. Shivam Dube and Ramandeep Singh have been added to the Indian squad.

"This game is set to be played on pitch no.5: the centre strip. Abhishek Sharma, who had an injury scare on Friday and didn't bat at the nets on the eve of the game, has joined training this evening and is currently bowling on one of the practice pitches. Shami is also bowling at full tilt. Can't spot Jacob Bethell at England's training; he was also absent yesterday because of illness. Jamie Smith, the Surrey wicketkeeper-batter, is set to make his T20I debut if Bethell continues to be unavailable."

Abhishek Sharma is playing today

Rinku & Nitish ruled out due to injury

Pitch Report | Deep Dasgupta and Nick Knight: "T20I cricket is back in Chennai after almost 7 years. This is a bigger venue. Square boundaries - 68m and 66m and 75m straight down the ground. Few cracks (on the pitch), there's a good covering of grass and most of it is pretty dead. Good pitch, I am saying somewhere around 180. We've got a pitch here which is a good pitch. The quick bowlers will look to bowl into the surface. I don't think there's going to be extravagant bounce. The spinner will get a little bit of bounce as well. Don't think there'll be a huge amount of spin. A very good surface to bat on, might get a little slow because this is a black soil pitch. Not much dew."

Buttler: We would have bowled first as well. Same gameplans, look to do better. Hopefully it'll be a good pitch and match. Bethell is unwell, Jamie Smith comes in. Atkinson misses out,

Suryakumar Yadav: We'll look to bowl first. Looks a good track, hoping the wicket to be better in the evening. We want to stick to the basics. Really looking forward to the game. (Fielding) That's one thing which brings everyone together. Nitish is ruled out, Rinku will miss one or two games. Washi and Jurel come in.

India have won the toss and have opted to field

"Looks a good track, a little bit of dew later on," Suryakumar says. "Want to stick to the basics and have the same approach as in the last game. We've been focusing on fielding a lot, that's one thing which brings everyone together. Washington Sundar and Dhruv Jurel come in for Reddy and Rinku"

Teams:

England (Playing XI): Ben Duckett, Philip Salt(w), Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Smith, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood

India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy

Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out for the rest of the series and Rinku Singh will be ruled out for the second and third matches. After a lop-sided contest in Kolkata, Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium hosts round 2 of the India vs England contests, hoping to offer a much more competitive game.