Ahmedabad: India would aim for a 2-1 lead against England when the third Test begins on Wednesday (February 24) at Sardar Patel Stadium — the inaugural match at the world’s largest with a staggering capacity of 1,10,000 spectators.
England too will be eager to stamp their authority in the Day-Night test and they have the quality in their tank as well to make a comeback with their hopes for the World Test Championship on the line.
After losing the first Test in Chennai by 227 runs, India bounced back in the second match winning 314 runs, thanks to Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin whose performaces made the difference in the whole encounter.
Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested for the second test might be seen for a possible return to the XI. While seasoned campaigner Ishant Sharma is verge of playing his 100th test match. Umesh Yadav might replace Kuldeep Yadav keeping in mind the pink ball’s love with the seamers.
Rohit’s return to form might prove well for the hosts as he can be the main orchestrator on his day while Cheteshwar Pujara is still the anchorman in the batting lineup besides Virat Kohli hoping to frustrate the English bowlers.
England, on the other hand, had an outing to forget failing to cross even 200 in both of their innings. The talismanic Joe Root will be the man to watch out for the visitors as he will look to return in his usual form after he was unable to make his presence felt in the second test.
They are expected to make a few changes to their playing XI. A possible return of James Anderson is on the cards for the Englishmen while Dominic Bess might replace Moeen Ali.
Anderson, England’s most prolific bowler, hinted about the pink ball swinging a bit more in the air than the traditional red one during the practice session. ”We’ve got a little bit of experience with the pink ball but this is just the second Test in India, the first one in February as well so we don’t know how it is going to behave,” the 38-year-old added.
The bowlers who get the ball in their hand come the Test match will be hopeful of it doing something and we’ll be hopeful that that gives us a little bit of an edge. “Obviously, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed if I do play and we bowl first, I’ll be hoping it does a little bit,” he said.
With the series perfectly poised at 1-1, this game surely will be one to watch out for the neutrals.
Possible Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma.
England: Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Dan Lawrence, Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Jack Leach, Jofra Archer, James Anderson.
