England vs India: Virat Kohli explains why Ishant Sharma made the cut ahead of R Ashwin

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin once again missed out of the Playing XI of India as pacer Ishant Sharma replaces Shardul Thakur for the second Test match against England at Lord’s. Shardul was ruled out of the second test due to an injury to his left hamstring. He was selected for the first test as a seam-bowler who can bat and considering this, fans were expecting R Ashwin to replace him. However, India went into the second match with four specialist seamers after looking at the playing conditions and the pitch. Ishant Sharma, who played his last test in the ICC World Test Championship 2021, will make his comeback into the team with this match.

Indian Captain Virat Kohli said Ashwin was in the 12 that was announced to the team but a fit and fine Ishant got the chance to play after looking at the playing conditions. Kohli shared his thoughts at the toss, on the spinner not getting a chance to play in this series so far by saying, “We announced 12 within the group and Ashwin definitely was part of that. But after looking at the pitch, the conditions, and considering how a fourth seamer can be an attacking option, this makes the most sense for us as a team."

'No matter who is playing, we just need to get the job done': Virat Kohli

Kohli, earlier during the pre-match press conference said that India will not be looking at the batting abilities while choosing Shardul’s replacement. He further added, “Everyone wants to contribute, it's about getting into the game as a batsman. We just need to get the job done, whoever it is, that's our main focus. Especially with crowds back in, it's a pleasure to be here. An honor to play in front of crowds for what should be a cracker." 

Meanwhile, England’s skipper Joe Root won the toss and opted to bowl first. England step into the match with three changes to their side. Mark Wood replaced injured Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali replaced Dan Lawrence and Haseeb Hameed finds a place in the Playing XI for the first time since 2016 by replacing Zak Crawley.

India’s playing XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.

England’s playing XI: Dominic Sibley, Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root (c), Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, James Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood.

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: ishant.sharma29, rashwin99/Instagram & ANI