India vs England: Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad return, James Anderson rested for second Test, Joe Root confirms

Joe Root confirms that England will make four changes for the second Test against India with Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad returning and James Anderson rested.

Ben Foakes also comes in for Jos Buttler, who left the tour after the series opener as planned and will return for the white-ball matches, with Chris Woakes and Olly Stone battling it out for the final spot in the XI.

Off-spinner Dom Bess misses out after struggling in the second innings during England’s victory in the first Test, while Jofra Archer has been ruled out due to an elbow injury.

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England have chosen to stick with their plan to rotate Anderson despite his match-winning spell on day five of the first match and the injury to Archer, meaning he and Broad are still to play a Test together this winter.

Meanwhile, Ali will be playing his first Test match since August 2019 against Australia.

England have been open about their rotation policy ahead of the series and although the numbers of changes to a side that won the first Test so convincingly may still seem surprising, Root believes the tourists can benefit from the energy of those coming into the team.

“You look at that squad of players and there might not be a lot of game time but what there is freshness; freshness of mind, freshness of body and a huge amount of excitement about playing,” he told reporters.

“I think that can count for a lot, especially in these conditions, that freshness can be really important to come into the game and attack your spell for three or four overs, have a real impact on things and come out of the attack again.

“I think that can really work in our favour coming into this match and you look at the way we’ve picked the 12, we’ve got two ways we can go.

“We can have a similar balanced team to the last Test match with that extra bit of pace of some like Olly Stone or we can have someone like Woakesy come into the fray and capitalise on that reverse swing and control and try and build pressure that way.

“We’ll make those decisions off the back of today, having a bit more information from looking at the wicket again a day out and either way, I think we’ve got a very strong squad for this wicket.”

Root also admitted it was a difficult decision to leave out 23-year-old Bess but backed him to come back a better a player for the experience.

“It wasn’t an easy decision; Dom’s contributed fantastically well in these three games and has made a real impact,” he said.

“With him missing out, the message for him moving forward is to keep working at that consistency of his game, delivering that skill time and time again, we talk about building pressure over long periods of time and I think, as well as he has done, that is one area that he can improve on.

“But he is very young, very much at the start of things and this doesn’t mean that he is going to be pushed back down the pecking order. It gives him an opportunity to step out of Test cricket, the harshest of environments, especially in these conditions against a team that plays spin so well, to take stock and work at his game.

“And it gives Moeen a chance to come back into things and with all his experience, he’s someone who is bowling very well in practice.

“It was a very difficult decision to make, I’m sure Bessy will be frustrated about it but that’s good as well, you want that competition for places, you want guys to be playing all the time and be amongst it all, that’s certainly how he goes about his cricket; he’s a wholehearted player and I expect a response from him.”

As for Anderson, Root suggested that by sitting this one out, England’s leading wicket-taker could be in a position to play two potentially crucial Tests in Ahmedabad at the end of the series.

“With Jimmy it gives him the best opportunity to be fit and available for those last two games,” the England skipper said.

“Everyone’s heart was in favour of him being available for this game but also you look at the bigger picture and ideally he’s available for two of the last three, that’s a huge asset for us as a team with the way he’s bowling. Obviously, his reputation as well as his actual numbers and performances in the recent games that he’s played for England.”

Follow live over-by-over text commentary of the second Test between India and England from 3.25am on Saturday morning on the Sky Sports App and skysports.com

(c) Sky Sports 2021: India vs England: Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad return, James Anderson rested for second Test, Joe Root confirms