Vikrant Shekhawat : Feb 12, 2021, 03:00 PM
Cricket Desk: After scripting a stunning victory in the highly-anticipated first Test of the four-match series against India by a massive 227 runs at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, England will be soaring high with confidence in the second Test match, starting from February 13 at the same venue. On the eve of the second Test, England skipper Joe Root announced a 12-man squad for the marquee game and left the fans surprised with a few decisions.While the top 6 is the same as the first game with the inclusion of Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Daniel Lawrence, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope, there are some massive changes in the lower half of the line-up. The visitors celebrated wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler will not feature in the rest of the three-Test matches against India due to the regulation of the players’ policy of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).Thus, Ben Foakes, who had last played for England over two years ago in a Test game against West Indies in January 2019, has been named as the replacement of Buttler for the second Test. In his short Test career, Foakes has represented the Englishmen in 5 games scoring 332 runs at an average of 41.5 and strike rate of 53.8.England rests James Anderson for the second Test against IndiaComing to the bowling unit, the visitors made a tough call as they have decided to replace the right-arm off-break bowler Dominic Bess with Moeen Ali. Bess had performed exemplary well in the first Test by picking the wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, and Ajinkya Rahane in India’s first innings followed by scalping the wicket of Washington Sundar in the last innings.As far as the pace attack is concerned, England were dealt with a massive blow on Thursday, February 11 as their speed merchant Jofra Archer suffered an arm injury and didn’t feature in the practice session. As a result, they have included Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad and Olly Stone in the 12-member squad for the second Test. James Anderson has been rested for the second game so that he can be physically fit for the pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad.