The hosts lead the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy by 1-0
Returning pacer Jofra Archer hasn’t been named in England’s playing XI for the second Test against India beginning on Wednesday (July 2).
England named an unchanged Playing XI for the second Test at Edgbaston as the trio of Chris Woakes, Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse retained their places from the five-wicket win at Headingley last week.
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Archer suffered a niggle before the beginning of the series which was supposed to be his return to Test cricket after a wait of four long years. Coincidentally, the 30-year-old’s last Test also came against India in Ahmedabad back in February 2021.
Even though he missed the first Test, Archer played the County Championship game for Sussex against Durham from June 22 to 25 and bowled 18 overs and claimed 1-32.
Archer’s return to the Test side has been telegraphed by England’s director of cricket Rob Key who had suggested Archer skip the entirety of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 in order to fit and firing for the entire five Tests against India.
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The 30-year-old played 12 matches for Rajasthan Royals and claimed 11 wickets before returning to the UK.
Besides Archer, this series is also a return to action for injury-prone Josh Tongue and Chris Woakes who had been sidelined for six months.
The likes of Mark Wood, Ollie Stone and Gus Atkinson are unavailable for the series due to injuries.
Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir will continue as the lone spin option for the hosts despite returning figures of 3-190 in the first Test.
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Meanwhile, India are in desperate need of solutions in two major departments – their tailenders’ batting and their pace department firing as a unit. The likes of Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj have failed to get wickets at the right time in both the innings in the first Test and also proved to be expensive.
Jasprit Bumrah was kept away from bowling in the second innings when there was swing in the air, casting a mystery over his fitness for the remainder of the series.
India also need their lower-order to put on some valuable runs after losing their last seven wickets in the first innings for 41 runs and last five wickets for 31 runs in the second innings.
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
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