India made as many as three changes for the second Test against New Zealand in Pune as captain Rohit Sharma pressed the panic button, it seems, in a bid to stage a comeback in the series after surprisingly losing the first Test by eight wickets had lost. As expected, KL Rahul made way for Shubman Gill, who returned to full fitness after missing the first Test in Bengaluru due to stiffness in his neck. India decided to stick with Sarfaraz Khan, who hit 150 in the series opener, meaning the ax fell on Rahul once again.

There were also two changes in India’s bowling department. Akash Deep was brought in for Mohammed Siraj after the latter, despite bowling well, somehow failed to take wickets in his last few outings.

The real surprise was the selection of Washington Sundar in place of Kuldeep Yadav. Sundar was included in the squad for the second Test, taking into account the multiple left-handers in New Zealand’s batting unit. But the fact that he would be playing for Kuldeep and Axar Patel, who were already in the squad, was a bit of a surprise.

Sundar’s inclusion also gives more support to India’s lower class. They now bat as deep as number 9 with three specialist all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Washington Sundar in the XI.

India captain Rohit Sharma did not provide any details on the rationale behind the three changes, but he did speak about the importance of the first 10-15 overs on Day 1.

“When you play a Test match like that, the first session didn’t go our way. But we batted well in the second innings. We take a lot of positives from that and see how we can turn things around here. Always want to find ways to get back on track.” to come into the test match when you are behind. That’s what we did. The pitch is a bit drier, yes. We understand how important the first 10 overs are. Akash Deep, Washington and Gill come in.

New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat. They made one change to their playing XI, bringing in left-arm spinner Mitchell Santer in place of injured pacer Matt Henry.

“Surface slightly different than last week. Not much grass. It may cause some fuss, as we expect when we come to these parts of the world. It was clearly a very proud moment for this group. We celebrated that, but our focus soon shifted to Pune. It’s about adapting to this surface. I’m trying to carry over the confidence we built last week,” Latham said.

India vs New Zealand 2nd Test Field Report

Simon Doull and Dinesh Karthik with the Pune field report: The color of the field remains the same: black soil in both Bangalore and Pune. On a piece of land with a good length it is a lot drier and there is much less grass. The team that wins the toss must bat first, and there will be plenty of help for spinners from ball one.

India playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah

New Zealand playing XI: Tom Latham(c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell(w), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William ORourke