India vs England 2nd Test: Toss report: England win, elect to bowl; Kohli brings in Ishant for Shardul

London, August 12: The steady drizzle of varying intensity held up the toss of the second Test between India and England here at Lord's. There were predictions of scattered showers and cloudy day on Thursday (August 12) but they were powerful enough to delay the proceedings on Day 1.

But once the toss was held, England won it and elected to bowl first quite expectedly under overcast skies.

Both India and England will be eyeing a series lead at Lord's in the five-match series after the first Test ended in a draw. The final day was delicately placed at Trent Bridge but rain washed out the entire day's play.

However, at Lord's teams will be eyeing a different fortune with weather forecast tells much better match days at Central London. Both India and England have injury concerns.

India has lost pacer Shardul Thakur to injury and as India skipper Virat Kohli said the Mumbaikar could play again in the third Test. India will think hard and long of a replacement for Thakur. Considering Lord's propensity to favour quicker bowlers, India might think of bringing in either Ishant Sharma or Umesh Yadav.

But they will also ponder over the inclusion of veteran off-spinner R Ashwin, who can excel in any conditions anywhere. But eventually, Ishant was preferred over others.

On their part, England has lost veteran pacer Stuart Broad to a calf injury, and he will not play the entire series and will now shift focus to the Ashes later this year to be played in Australia. England has drafted in pacer Saqib Mahmood as cover for him, though the home side is likely to go with express pace bowler Mark Wood.

England has also released spinner Dom Bess and middle-order batsman Ollie Pope from the squad and the duo now will return to their respective county teams for domestic matches. All-rounder Moeen Ali, who has been called up for this Test, too will fancy his chances of making it to the Playing 11.

As expected, Moeen, Wood came in to the 11 along with Haseeb Hameed.

Playing 11s

India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

England: Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root (Captain), Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (WK), Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, James Anderson.