James Anderson rested and Dom Bess dropped ahead of second Test

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James Anderson and Dom Bess will miss the second Test for England against India in Chennai, captain Joe Root has said.

Anderson performed admirably as England opened the series with a win but is being rested with a view to the third Test, which will be played under floodlights.

Bess is dropped from the team, while it was confirmed on Thursday that Jofra Archer was unavailable for the second Test due to an elbow injury.

Moeen Ali has been brought in to the 12-man squad to replace Bess, while Anderson’s place is set to be a shoot-out between Olly Stone and Chris Woakes.

Tough call to drop Dom Bess

Skipper Joe Root said it was a tough call to leave Bess out.

“It wasn’t an easy decision; Dom’s contributed fantastically well in these three games and has made a real impact,” he said.

“With him missing out, the message for him moving forward is to keep working at that consistency of his game, delivering that skill time and time again, we talk about building pressure over long periods of time and I think, as well as he has done, that is one area that he can improve on.

“But he is very young, very much at the start of things and this doesn’t mean that he is going to be pushed back down the pecking order. It gives him an opportunity to step out of Test cricket, the harshest of environments, especially in these conditions against a team that plays spin so well, to take stock and work at his game.

Jos Buttler is also being rested for the match, which begins on Saturday.

Dom Bess

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