Rohit Sharma makes bold changes for 2nd Test against New Zealand: Drops KL Rahul, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

India made three changes for the second Test against New Zealand in Pune as captain Rohit Sharma looked to shake things up after a disappointing loss in the first Test. KL Rahul was replaced by Shubman Gill, who was back in the team after recovering from a neck injury. Sarfaraz Khan retained his spot after his impressive performance in the first Test, while Rahul found himself out of the playing XI once again.

There were two changes in India's bowling department too. Akash Deep was brought in place of Mohammed Siraj after the latter, despite bowling well, somehow, failed to get wickets in his last few appearances.

The real surprise was the selection of Washington Sundar in place of Kuldeep Yadav. Sundar was brought into the squad for the second Test keeping in mind the multiple left-handers in New Zealand's batting unit. But that he would get to play ahead of Kuldeep and Axar Patel, who was already in the squad, was a bit of a surprise.

Sundar's inclusion also gives more cushion to India's lower-order. They now bat as deep as No.9 with three specialist all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Washington Sundar in the XI.

India captain Rohit Sharma did not give out details about the rationale behind the three changes but he did talk 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 into the Test match when you're behind. That's what we did. The pitch is a little drier, yes. We do understand how important the first 10 overs are. Three changes - Siraj, KL and Kuldeep miss out. Akash Deep, Washington and Gill come in.

New Zealand won the toss and opted 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 to what it was last week. Not a lot of grass. It might produce a bit of spin, as we expect when we come to these parts of the world. Obviously, it was a really proud moment for this group. We celebrated that, but our focus quickly turned to Pune. It's just about adapting to this surface. Trying to take the confidence we built up from last week,” said Latham.

Simon Doull and Dinesh Karthik with the Pune pitch report: The colour of the pitch remains the same - black soil in both Bangalore and Pune. On a good length area, it's a lot more dry and a lot more devoid of grass. The team winning the toss should bat first, and there will be enough assistance 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