India vs England: James Anderson likely to be rested for second Test, hints Chris Silverwood

While a lot is being at stake in the ongoing four-match Test series against India, the England team-management is maintaining its stance of rotating players to keep them fit. England do have a busy year ahead that will see them host India at home this summer before going to Australia for the Ashes. Even before the start of the ongoing series, the management and the selectors faced severe criticism for resting Jonny Bairstow for the first two Tests.

Jos Buttler will also return home ahead of the second Test and there is a big chance that James Anderson could be rested for the second Test too. The fast-bowler came up with a stunning spell in the second innings to set England on their way to a comprehensive 227-run win but his place in the playing eleven is still not guaranteed.

The veteran pacer picked up three crucial wickets on day five of the Test to put England in the driver’s seat. In his very first over of the day, he castled Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane before accounting for Rishabh Pant too. But Anderson might be rested for the upcoming Test and his fellow pacer Stuart Broad is expected to replace him.

It is hard to leave James Anderson out: Chris Silverwood

Speaking ahead of the second Test, England head coach Chris Silverwood admitted that leaving James Anderson out of the playing eleven would be hard. At the same time, he made it clear that he was not reluctant to tinker with the winning team as he hinted Broad might replace Anderson in the team for the upcoming game.

“It is hard (to leave Anderson out), he is a class act, you’ll have to wait and see… But I’m not reluctant to change the winning team. Broady didn’t play in the last game and we’ve many bowlers here who we could play at any given point,” Silverwood said.

As far as Anderson himself is concerned, he is also well aware that he might be rested for the second game. The 38-year old, who picked up 5 wickets in the game said that he would like to carry on playing but admitted that players do need to rest from time to time to stay fit and injury-free.

“When a batsman gets in rhythm and form, they want to keep batting and keep that rhythm going, and it’s the same for a bowler. You want to keep that going if possible, but I’m very aware that we’ve got 4 Test matches in quick succession here and there will probably be a need to rest and rotate. So I’m not assuming anything,” Anderson said.