Cardiff, July 16 (IANS) Wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan has replaced an ill KL Rahul in the playing eleven as England skipper Harry Brook won the toss and elected to bowl against India in the second ODI at Sophia Gardens on Thursday.

Looking to bounce back from their defeat in the series opener at Edgbaston, England have made two changes to their side – bringing in fast bowlers Gus Atkinson and Saqib Mahmood in place of Josh Tongue and Liam Dawson.

“It’s a nice, even spread of grass. Hopefully, we can get a bit of seam movement and swing up front. We need to execute slightly better. I’ve always said we are never out of games, and I thought we put up a really good fight in the last game to take it that deep. It was an awesome effort from the guys, and we need some more of that,” said England captain Harry Brook.

India, who lead the three-match series 1-0, were forced to make the solitary change with Kishan donning the wicketkeeping gloves in Rahul’s absence. “KL Rahul was unavailable for selection due to illness,” said the BCCI in an official update.

India captain Shubman Gill said his side is seeking another near-perfect performance. “We’d have bowled first as well. We’re doing well. We had a near-perfect game last time out; hopefully, we’re going to have another good one. We started well, and it was great to see fast bowlers do well. Very good memories here,” he said.

Playing XIs:

India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (captain), Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Prasidh Krishna

England: Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook (captain), Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, and Saqib Mahmood

–IANS

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