Ind vs Eng, 2nd ODI: Visitors opt to field, Pant replaces Iyer
Mar 26, 2021
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], March 26 : England's stand-in skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to field against India in the second ODI here at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Friday.
Buttler is leading the team as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Thursday confirmed that regular skipper Eoin Morgan will miss the remaining two ODIs due to injury. Sam Billings is also unavailable for the match.
It was not only England who suffered an injury setback in the series opener, India too faced a blow after Shreyas Iyer hurt his left shoulder. Iyer has been ruled out of both the remaining games and is set to undergo surgery.
India made one change, bringing Rishabh Pant in for Iyer in the playing XI.
At the toss, Buttler said: "We are gonna bowl first. Similar reasons to the other day. The wicket will be quite similar. We have tried to play that way for a long period of time, it has given us great success. We have to be smart with that at times, we'll continue to play in the fashion that we did. (On Morgan's absence) Huge shoes to fill. We'll miss him as a batsman and a leader. Great day for me to captain the side. We have three changes. Dawid Malan comes in for Morgan, Livingstone for Billings and Reece Topley for Mark Wood."
Virat Kohli said: "We wanted to bat first again. That's what development of team is all about. That's why we wanted to put ourselves in the same position. You have to be precise in your execution. We wanted to attack at all times. Pant replaces Shreyas Iyer and that's the only change."
England Playing XI: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Dawid Malan, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.
