`Fit-again` KL Rahul recalled for second England Test

Fit-again opener K L Rahul was today added to India’s squad for the second cricket Test against England starting November 17 in Visakhapatnam.

“Catch the ball. That’s all I can say to sum it up. We tried our best but credit to them for the way they batted”, he explained. We have done really well in all the three departments over the past three and a half months that I have been a part of this team or even before that. “Just now we are going in with a few heads with what we are going to do”, said Cook.

The pitch for the Second Test is expected to take significantly more turn than the one in Rajkot.

Though Indian batsmen looked steady, England bowlers have been successful in picking up Indian wickets in regular intervals.

“If we happen to lose the toss then it happens to be another challenge that we have to try and overcome”.

“He’s a find for the game. Important to convince yourself you can negotiate what’s thrown at you”, he added. In the first Test in Rajkot, Gambhir scored only 28 runs in the match, including a duck in the second innings.

“Our spinners are nowhere near the finished article, but they can all be pleased how they bowled in this game and it was a tough five days”, he noted.

“We want to focus on our strengths and play the cricket that we have as a team at home and put the pressure on the opposition”. We didn’t let India score too quickly. “We’ll look to use the previous experience of playing here to our advantage”, he said. Second innings was quite hard work, (Ravindra) Jadeja bowling into the rough with a brand new ball, some at 60mph. His fellow spinners Moeen Ali and Zafar Ansari took one wicket each.

On Haseeb Hameed: He’s an unbelievable player. In the first innings, he got 70-plus against Rajasthan. “You need to figure out as a captain how comfortable you are with the guys you are going to take the field with and how mentally prepared and aware they are walking into the field and how confident they are of picking up those wickets for you”.

“If we continue on that level as we did in Rajkot there’s no reason why we can’t put pressure on their batting with our spinners”. We did a lot of very good things. We gave our everything in those 50 overs.

On his century: At the top of the order, if you get through the first 30 or 40 balls, there are big runs here.

“It was a very good pitch”.

“I’m happy with the way I batted”. We feel like we’ve prepared really well.

“He was pushing me close to retirement when we walked off yesterday”.