Predicted India A Playing XI: KL Rahul In, Sarfaraz Out for England Lions Second Unofficial Test

India A will take on the England Lions in the second unofficial Test match from June 6 to 9 at the County Ground in Northampton. The first warm-up game ended in a draw. While there's also an intra-squad match planned, this game is important as it gives the players a good chance to get used to the English conditions and get some much-needed red-ball practice ahead of the upcoming Test series.

Most of the India A batters did a good job in the first game, so there’s no real reason to make changes. However, there is one big update, KL Rahul has joined the squad for the second match against the England Lions. Since he’s also in the main Test team and is expected to play in the Headingley Test, he will be in the playing XI. This means one of the current batters will have to sit out to make room for him.

So, who would it be? Well, since only Sarfaraz Khan is the batter among the top six who isn’t part of the Test squad, he’ll have to sit out. He’s worked on his fitness and also played a fine 93-run knock, but all the other batters will stay back in England, while he won’t. So, it makes sense that Sarfaraz will be the one making way for Rahul.

Where Will KL Rahul Bat in the Line-Up?

Another question is, where will Rahul bat? That’s still not clear. Since he has batted at almost every position before, he’ll likely come in at number four in the second India A vs England Lions match. That’s the spot where Sarfaraz batted in the first innings. And who knows, Rahul might bat at the same number in the Headingley Test too.

Akash Deep Likely to Replace Harshit Rana, Kotian in Line for Dubey’s Spot

Akash Deep couldn’t take part in the first practice match because he was playing for Lucknow Super Giants till May 27. But he’ll be available for this game. He’s expected to come in for Harshit Rana, who had a tough outing in Canterbury. Harshit didn’t do much with the ball, his only wicket was that of tailender Josh Hull. More than that, his line and length were quite off, and he didn’t look in control either.

When you're playing on flat pitches, you count on your spinner to bowl a good number of overs and at least keep things tight. But Harsh Dubey didn’t do that, he gave away the most runs and bowled fewer or the same number of overs as the four fast bowlers. So, there’s a good chance he’ll be replaced by Tanush Kotian. Kotian is an off-spinner, and since the England Lions have quite a few left-handers, he might do a better job. Plus, Kotian can contribute more with the bat than Dubey.

Predicted India A playing XI for England Lions 2nd match

Playing XI: Abhimanyu Easwaran (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (in), Dhruv Jurel (vc & wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Tanush Kotian (in), Akash Deep (in), Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Kumar
Bench: Ishan Kishan (wk), Manav Suthar, Harshit Rana (out), Khaleel Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tushar Deshpande, Harsh Dubey (out), Sarfaraz Khan (out)

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