James Anderson has been named in England’s XI for the second Test against India, which gets underway on Friday, February 2 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Anderson replaced Mark Wood, who bowled only 25 overs in the opening Test at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, but failed to pick up a single wicket.

Anderson is only 10 wickets short of joining the legendary Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne in the list of bowlers with 700 or more wickets in Test cricket.

Rookie spin bowler Shoaib Bashir also made his Test debut after Jack Leach was ruled out due to an injury on his left knee.

Bashir has played 6 first-class matches thus far in which he picked up 10 wickets at an economy rate of 3.30. The 20-year-old is no mug with the bat, with a top score of 44 not out to his name.

Earlier, Bashir got his visa, after which he joined the England team. Bashir, in the meantime, has joined Tom Hartley and Joe Root in England’s spin-bowling contingent before the Vizag Test.

England are 1-0 up in the series after winning the opening Test by 28 runs in Hyderabad.

England XI for 2nd Test

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (C), Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson

More to follow

Tune In