• Source:JND
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With recent injuries to KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja in the absence of star batter Virat Kohli left India out of first-choice players for the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam. Though missing out on big names in the squad, the Rohit Sharma-led side is no short of options to pick their playing 11.

India lost the first Test by 28 runs in Hyderabad despite having a 190-run first innings and are trailing 0-1 in the five-match series.

For the second Test, India added Sarfaraz Khan, Sourabh Kumar and Washington Sundar in the squad. With Jadeja hurting his hamstring makes Sundar a like-for-like replacement but with only one middle-order spot available, Sarfaraz and Patidar have to compete for their Test debut.

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Meanwhile, India batting coach Vikram Rathour expressed his thoughts on who will get the much-awaited Test cap and called it a 'tough choice' to make.

"It will be a tough choice. What value they bring to the team, of course, is that they are superb players. We have seen how well they have done in domestic cricket in the last few years," Rathour said of the reinforcements during a press conference on Wednesday.

With Rathour being confident of youngsters, it is evident that one of them will surely make their red-ball debut but that call would be made by the captain and head coach Rahul Dravid.

"So on these kind of wickets, I think they can really add a lot of value to the team. If we have to pick just one out of them, of course, it would be tough. But, that decision will be made by Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma," the batting coach said.

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"It (pitch) is difficult to predict. It will turn, maybe not from the first day, but eventually, it will turn. That's how the wicket looks like," he further added.

Sarfaraz has been leading domestic run charts for years now. The Mumbai batter has displayed consistent form in first class cricket with 3912 runs in 45 matches at an average of 69.85. He also scored 14 centuries and 11 half-centuries.

Earlier this month, Sarfaraz hammered 161 against England Lions after 96 and 55 for India A in the unofficial Test.

On the other hand, Patidar played knocks of 111 and 151 in the two games against England Lions. He has 4,000 runs in 55 first-class matches at an average of 45.97 with 12 tons and 22 half-centuries.