India Drop Star Batter As Gill Returns From Injury In 2nd Test Against NZ

Shubman Gill returned to India's playing XI as New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat in the second Test in Pune on Thursday. The hosts made three big changes on the back of an eight-wicket defeat in the series-opener in Bengaluru last week. Gill missed the first Test match in Bengaluru due to a stiff neck but head coach Gautam Gambhir confirmed ahead of the second Test that the youngster has recovered completely. Gill replaced out-of-form star KL Rahul, while India also dropped Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav, respectively. Akash Deep and Washington Sundar replaced Kuldeep and Siraj in the playing XI.

India XI: 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 XI: Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Tim Southee, Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, William O'Rourke

More to follow...