India left out Kuldeep Yadav for the second ODI of the three-match series against England, at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack.
Since the start of 2023, Kuldeep has taken 54 ODI wickets at 21.46 while going at only 4.50 an over. Of all spinners, only two Sri Lankans have more wickets in men’s ODIs over this period.
The lead spinner of the Indian attack, Kuldeep claimed nine wickets at 11.44 at the 2023 Asia Cup and another 15, at 28.26, at the 2023 World Cup. India won the first and finished runners-up in the second.
Naturally, he started the ODI series against England, where he claimed 1-53 in 9.4 overs in the first game as the tourists were bowled out for 248. India won the game with four wickets and 68 balls in hand.
India pick Varun Charkavarthy over Kuldeep
For the second game, however, India replaced Kuldeep with the uncapped 33-year-old Varun Chakravarthy. Varun might not have played ODIs, but the English batters were all at sea against him in the five T20Is that preceded the ODI series: there, his 14 wickets came at 9.85, while he went for 7.85 an over.
However, India captain Rohit Sharma mentioned at the toss that Kuldeep was "rested" and not dropped in place of Varun.
Varun for Kuldeep was not India’s only change for the game. Virat Kohli, now fit, returned to the side instead of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had struggled for his 15 in the first game, which was also his debut.
England, meanwhile, left out Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, and Jacob Bethell. Of them, Bethell had pulled his left hamstring and England have called up Tom Banton as cover. For the match, they brought in Mark Wood, Jamie Overton, and Gus Atkinson. Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bat.
Playing XIs for second ODI:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), KL Rahul (wk), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy
England: Jos Buttler (c), Phil Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood
