IND vs ENG: Ahead of the second Test of the five-match Test series against India, England announced their playing XI on Thursday. The live wire game will be set to commence from February 2 - 6 at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Displaying the aggressive move, the Stokes-led English side announced their team a day before the match. As expected, left-arm off-spinner Jack Leach was ruled out due to a knee injury that he suffered during the first Test in Hyderabad. The 20-year-old spinner Sohaib Bashir has replaced him in the squad. Sohaib Bashir is set to become the second debutant of this tour from the visitors side. Earlier, Tom Hartley made his debut in the first Test.Get well soon Leachy ❤️ pic.twitter.com/dwEYzqVBII— Englands Barmy Army 🏴🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy) January 31, 2024Sohaib Bashir added to Playing XINotably, the off-spinner arrived in the sub-continent on Sunday after getting his visa clearance from India. The Somerset spinner has featured in just six first-class matches. However, he succeeded in impressing Englands skipper in the preparatory camp held in Abu Dhabi ahead of the India tour. It was Stokes who took the risk to add the 20-year-old to the squad after seeing him ball against Englands legendary batter Alastair Cook during the County Championship in 2023. Jimmy Anderson is back!The other surprise inclusion in the playing XI is the return of veteran pacer James Anderson as the lone pacer in the squad. Keeping reverse swing in mind, Anderson justifies his selection. He will replace Mark Wood in the squad. Wood was preferred over the veteran in the first Test mainly because of his sheer pace and uncanny knack of picking wickets out of nowhere.🚨 JIMMY ANDERSON IS BACK FOR ENGLAND IN THE 2ND TEST....!!! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Lq3l6pv6ig— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) February 1, 2024England XI for 2nd Test vs IndiaZak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (C), Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed. Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Rajat Patidar, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Sarfaraz Khan, Avesh Khan, Saurabh Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Dhruv Jurel.
