IND vs AUS: India's Predicted Playing XI vs Australia for 2nd Test

India thrashed Australia in the first match of the four-match Test series in Nagpur by an inning and 132 runs. The Men in Blue will now move to New Delhi for the second Test match which is set to take on Friday, February 17. It won't be an easy task for the Indian team management to make changes in the squad for the second Test.

Indian batter Shreyas Iyer, who has performed pretty well in the longest format, will hope to make a comeback in the second Test as he was ruled out of the first match due to an injury. He might replace Suryakumar Yadav, who made his debut in the first match of the series but couldn’t perform anything special.

Here we will look at India’s predicted playing XI for the second Test match against Australia:

Top-Order

Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara (Source - Twitter)

Indian skipper and opener Rohit Sharma smashed a brilliant century in the first match and will look to continue his outstanding form in the second match as well. Meanwhile, KL Rahul continued his poor form and got out after scoring only 20 runs.

This might be his last opportunity to play as an opener in the longest format as in-form batter Shubman Gill is already eyeing an opportunity. Meanwhile, Cheteshwar Pujara, who was performing exceptionally well in County Cricket, failed to impress in the first match but cleared his intent as he was seen playing aggressively.

Middle Order

Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer (Source - Twitter)

Virat Kohli is in tremendous form in the white-ball format but he is out of colors in Tests as he scored only 12 runs but will look to play a big knock in the second Test. India decided to play T20 specialist Suryakumar Yadav in place of Iyer as he was injured.

However, Suryakumar's debut innings ended after scoring just 8 runs. Iyer will definitely replace Surykumar if he is fully fit. Wicketkeeper KS Bharat, who made his international debut in the first match, couldn't provide anything big to the scoreboard.

All-rounders

Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin (Source - Twitter)

India's star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja made a terrific comeback after 5 months as he got injured during India's Asia Cup 2022 campaign. Jadeja took a fifer in the first innings and also smashed a half-century as well in the first Test match.

Ravichandran Ashwin also took a fifer in that match. Both will look to trap the Australian batters with their brilliant spin bowling in the second Test match as well. Axar Patel played a beautiful knock of 84 runs in the first Test but went wicketless with the bowl. India will surely need his services with the ball as well in the second Test.

Bowlers

Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj (Source - Twitter)

India's pace batteries, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj played a crucial role in the team's victory as they provided early breakthroughs in the first innings of the opening Test. Shami also played a handy knock of 37 runs off just 47 deliveries, which included 2 fours and 3 sixes.