India-England playing XIs leaked before toss?

Playing XI of both India and England reportedly got leaked even before the toss took place for the second Test match at Lord’s.

Playing XI of both India and England reportedly got leaked even before the toss took place for the second Test match at Lord’s.

Day 1 of the Test match was washed out completely due to persistent rain, forcing the players to stay indoors.

However, late on Thursday evening, a picture of the players’ sheet of both India and England went viral on social media, forcing everyone into speculations.

The scoresheet with the official logo of MCC on top of it has the final playing XI of the hosts as well as the visitors. According to the list, India are going in with an unchanged playing XI, dropping the idea of fielding two spinners, possibly because of the rain and drop in temperature.

England, on the other hand, have chosen Chris Woakes in place of Moeen Ali. The sheet also has the name of debutant Ollie Pope, something which England think tank had made it clear on the eve of the second Test.

India unchanged for 2nd test. #ENGvINDpic.twitter.com/KFLLszmtNg

— вυмяαн (@fake_bumrah_) August 9, 2018

There is no clarity whether it is indeed the official playing XI or not but if it does turn out to be true then it will be the first occasion when Virat Kohli will field an unchanged playing XI in a Test match in his tenure as the Indian captain.

Meanwhile, the playing conditions have been revised and 96 overs will be bowled on each of the remaining four days if the weather stays clear. However, there are forecasts of rain at the weekend.  

Leaked Indian XI: Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Hardik pandya, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

Leaked England XI: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad and James Anderson.