NEW DELHI: For the crucial second Test at the MCA Stadium in Pune, India made significant changes to their playing XI, which came in Akash DeepWashington Sundar and Shubman Gill. Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav missed. New Zealand, who registered an eight-wicket win in the series opener in Bengaluru, won the toss and elected to bat first.
During the toss, India captain Rohit Sharma reflected on the positives of the previous match and emphasized the importance of the first session.
“Would have batted too. When you play a test match like that, the first session didn’t go the way we wanted. But we batted well in the second innings. We take a lot of positives from that and see how we can change. I always want to find ways to get back 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 ten overs are, KL and Kuldeep are missing Akash Deep, Washington and Gill,” explained. Rohit out.

New Zealand captain Tom Latham decided to bat first, citing the conditions of the Pune pitch. The visitors made one change, with Mitchell Santner replacing the injured Matt Henry, who played a key role in their win in Bengaluru with eight wickets.
“We’re going to have a bat. The surface is a little different than last week. Not a lot of grass. It might produce a little bit of spin, as we expect when we come to these parts of the world. Obviously a very proud moment for this group to have “We celebrated that, but our focus here is quickly on Pune. It’s just about adapting to this surface. Matt Henry is trying to gain the confidence we built last week,” Latham said.
Playing XIs:

India will look to bounce back from their loss in Bengaluru, while New Zealand will look to end the series with another strong performance.