India are currently taking on New Zealand in the second Test of the three-match series at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune. This match is a must-win for Team India after having lost the first Test of the series, and a New Zealand victory would mean that India would lose a first Test Series at home after 12 years. In a bid for a win, India have made many changes in their playing XI. The biggest change is the fact that star batter KL Rahul has been dropped from the playing XI.

KL Rahul could not perform well in the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru. In the first innings he was out for a duck, and in the second innings he scored just 12 runs from 16 balls. In fact Rahul holds the embarrassing record of having thw worst average among the 20 Indian batters who played 80 or more innings among the top six batting positions.

On the other hand, Sarfaraz Khan who came in for the injured Shubman Gill in the first Test, as the star of the show with the bat in the second innings, as he slammed his maiden Test century, scoring 150 runs. With Sarfaraz in form, and Shubman Gill back into the side for the second Test from his neck injury, it was KL Rahul who faced the axe from the playing XI in the second Test.

Apart from KL Rahul, two other players were also dropped from the India playing XI for the second Test vs New Zealand. Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj did not find their place in the playing XI, an instead India brought in Washington Sundar and Akash Deep.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah

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