Varun Chakravarthy becomes 2nd-oldest debutant for India, Shreyas Iyer survives Virat Kohli's return in 2nd England ODI

India made two changes to their playing XI for the second match of the three-game series against England at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. In-form mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy was handed his debut cap by all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, while Shreyas Iyer survived Virat Kohli's return. India coach Gautam Gambhir and Varun Chakaravarthy during practice (REUTERS)

India rested Kuldeep Yadav, who made a return to international cricket in the Nagpur game after undergoing sports hernia surgery in October, for the second ODI and handed Chakravarthy his debut cap. The Tamil Nadu spinner impressed the team management with his stellar show both in the Vijay Hazare Trophy last month and the home T20I series against England, where he picked 14 wickets in five innings to claim the Player of the Series award.

The selection certainly put Chakravarthy in contention for a place in the Champions Trophy squad, but as Rohit claimed in the pre-series presser, the onus will be on the 33-year-old. India have just three days in hand before finalising their squad for the ICC tournament.

Chakravarthy, 33 years and 164 days, hence became the second oldest Indian to make a debut in ODI cricket after Farookh Engineer (at 36 years and 138 days, vs England in Leeds in 1974).

Kohli back, Iyer retained

Kohli missed the previous game owing to a knee injury. But was the former India captain declared fit for the second game.

While it was expected that Shreyas Iyer would make way for the 36-year-old after the former shockingly revealed that he was not in contention for the series opener as the team favoured left-handed Yashasvi Jaiswal in the line-up, the latter was replaced by Kohli in the XI.

This implies, Rohit will be partnering Shubman Gill, who batted at No. 3 in Nagpur, in the opening slot, while Kohli will bat one down, followed by Iyer.

Teams:

England (Playing XI): Philip Salt(w), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(c), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy

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