New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the second Test in Pune on Thursday (October 24, 2024). The Kiwis have inducted left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner into their playing XI, with seamer Matt Henry missing out due to a glute niggle. (Match Blog | Scorecard | Live Streaming)
The big news from the Indian camp is that KL Rahul has not been picked for this game with Shubman Gill coming in, which effectively means Sarfaraz Khan has been selected ahead of his senior compatriot. Further, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav will both not feature in the Pune Test as Washington Sundar and Akash Deep have been drafted in, instead.
Playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah.
New Zealand: Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee, Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, William ORourke.
Explaining his decision to bat first, Latham said: "It [the pitch] might produce a bit of spin as we expect from his part of the town."
He added, "It was a really proud moment [the win]. We celebrated that but our focus has turned to Pune. It is just adapting to the surface and adapt as soon as possible. We have a good opportunity with the bat."
His opposite number Rohit Sharma said: "I would have batted as well . Whatever the pitch is we have to play good cricket."
Addressing the loss in the first Test, he added, "Lot of positives. No matter what the situation of the game is, you always try and come back into the game. That is what we did. At the end, not a lot of runs on the board."
On the Pune pitch, Rohit said: "A little drier [the pitch]. We do understand how important the first 10-15 overs are. We have made three changes."
