Sarfaraz Khan Over Rajat Patidar: Harbhajan Singh Picks His India Playing XI for 2nd Test vs England

Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has picked India’s Playing XI for the second Test match against England at Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam. The hosts will miss the services of Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul in Vizag as both players got injured during the opening Test in Hyderabad.

Jadeja sustained a hamstring injury during play on Day 4 of the first Test in Hyderabad while Rahul complained of right quadriceps pain.

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The Men’s Selection Committee added Sarfaraz Khan, Sourabh Kumar and Washington Sundar to India’s squad.

Meanwhile, Harbhajan picked Sarfaraz to replace KL Rahul in the batting line-up over Madhya Pradesh batter Rajat Patidar who was included in the squad after Virat Kohli was ruled out due to personal reasons.

The veteran spinner backed Sarfaraz after his stellar show in domestic cricket and for India A in recent times.

“I think Sarfaraz should be played at No. 5. He has been scoring a lot of runs in domestic cricket and even for India A in the matches against England Lions,” Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.

Meanwhile, in place of Jadeja, the Turbanator decided to make the like-to-like replacement with Washington Sundar.

However, he suggested one more change in the XI in case the pitch has assistance for the spinner and asserted that India should go ahead with Kuldeep Yadav over Mohammed Siraj.

“In No. 11, it should be Kuldeep Yadav. He has the variations and he can also turn the ball in both directions. Recently, his performance was extremely good in the World Cup. If the team wants to add an extra spinner, the team should go with Kuldeep Yadav. If the wicket has something, play Siraj but if you think that it is a turning track, play Kuldeep as the fourth spinner,” Harbhajan explained.

Harbhajan Singh’s India playing XI for second Test match against England: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, KS Bharat, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav/Mohammed Siraj.