IND vs AUS, 2nd Test: Iyer returns for Suryakumar, Rahul retained over Gill as Australia bats; fans upset
IND vs AUS 2022-23: India is taking on Australia in the second Delhi Test for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Friday. While the visitors bat, Shreyas Iyer has returned to replace Suryakumar Yadav, while Shubman Gill gets ignored for KL Rahul.
FollowTeam India came up with a wild performance in the opening Test against Australia in Nagpur in its quest to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. As the hosts look to continue with the same momentum, things have moved to the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Friday, while the visitors have won the coin toss and opted to bat.
As for the playing XI, the Australians have made two changes, bringing in Travis Head for Matt Renshaw in the middle-order while Matthew Kuhnemann debuts. Considering the Indians, they, too, have a change, with a now-fit middler-order batter, Shreyas Iyer replacing Suryakumar Yadav. However, the surprising element was that Rohit Sharma and co chose to stick with wicketkeeper-opener KL Rahul, despite his frail form, over young in-form opener Shubman Gill.
After winning the toss, Australian skipper Pat Cummins declared, "We'll bat first. The middle looks like there's grass but bare at both ends. Plenty of turns there. It will be a good Test. Cam Green and Mitch Starc aren't playing, but Travis Head is coming in for Renshaw, and Matthew Kuhnemann makes his debut."
Meanwhile, Indian captain Rohit Sharma voiced, "We'd have batted first as well. The pitch is dry, but the application we showed last game put the toss away from the game. You have to come out and play good cricket, and that's been the chat in the group to not worry about the toss. One change for us - Shreyas Iyer is in for Surya."
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The Test marks the 100th Test for charismatic Indian top-order batter Cheteshwar Pujara, while Rohit heaped praise on him by expressing, "We are all thrilled for him. His family is here as well. 100 Test matches aren't easy. There have been plenty of ups and downs in his career."
Playing XI
IND: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (wk), Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.
AUS: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb (wk), Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Todd Murphy, Nathan Lyon and Matthew Kuhnemann.
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