An extremely confident India will look to tighten the noose against a struggling England and skipper Virat Kohli will be expected to recover from his long lean when the third Test of the five-match series begins in Leeds on Wednesday.
Kohli’s last international century came in November 2019 and though he has scored some 40 runs in the series so far, the expectations from the modern great have always skyrocketed.
He looked weak around the off-stump in the first two Tests and can be expected to present a tough technique when the ball is bowled at the fourth stump at Headingley.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane’s form was also a concern for India but the veteran duo batted for almost 50 overs on the fourth day of the Lord’s Test and were responsible for taking the game to the final, that has been rested. . A day earlier Indian fast bowlers registered a famous victory.
The performances of openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have been the biggest plus for India in the batting department. Both have shown remarkable flair and technique in testing conditions to give the team a solid start.
Rahul, who was included in the squad as a replacement for the injured Mayank Agarwal, has grown in confidence with each innings and is sure of which deliveries to play and which ones to leave, which are vital to success in English conditions. Is.
Rohit has also done well and just needs to figure out when to play his trademark pull shot, having fallen on that stroke twice so far in the series.
Rishabh Pant will play the way he plays and Ravindra Jadeja has also done a good job at number seven. It can be said that he is playing more as a batsman than a left-arm spinner in the team.
With conditions expected to be conducive and conducive for the fast bowlers at Headingley, India are expected to maintain a four-pronged pace attack, leaving no room for R Ashwin once again.
Shardul Thakur is fully fit but it is unlikely that Kohli will make any changes to the pace attack, which gave India the fifth day’s play at Lord’s.
Ishant Sharma, who did not play the opening Test, was really impressive at Lord’s and the highly experienced pacer is likely to be preferred over Thakur, who is a lesser bowler than Ishant but a better batsman.
The world-class attacking power has been bolstered by Mohammad Siraj, who was sensational on the fifth day and has impressed many with his relentless accuracy.
India last played here in 2002 when they registered a famous victory by an innings and 46 runs. None of the current players have the experience of playing on this ground and it will be interesting to see how they adapt to the challenge.
England, on the other hand, will hope that their batting woes will be eased with the addition of white-ball specialist David Malan. Malan last played a Test three years ago, but given his rich first-class experience, he is expected to do well.
The southpaw will bat at number three, ordering Haseeb Hameed to open with Rory Burns. England’s batsmen will have to find a way to score and help skipper Joe Root, who has scored the bulk of the team’s runs so far.
Mark Wood, who has troubled the Indian batsmen with his extra pace, has been injured and Saqib Mahmood is in a good position to make his Test debut on Wednesday.
Ahead of the game, Root confirmed that the team was not facing any fitness issues, except for Wood, who also has lead pacer James Anderson in good shape.
Root has also hinted that his players will not be drawn into unnecessary exchanges with opposition players after things heat up after India were out over a verbal fight at Lord’s.
full squad
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav.
England: Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Saqib Mahmood, David Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson.
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