On Wednesday, India will get set to play against England in the third fixture of the 5-match Test series at the Headingly Cricket Stadium in Leeds.
Fuelled by missing out on another ICC honor, India has dominated the hosts in the first two matches of the series but failed to get the win in the first Test as the last day was washed out with the visitors staring the win in the eyes. In the second Test at the Lord’s cricket stadium, Virat Kohli’s men wrapped up a convincing 151-run win.
On the other hand, England’s batting has been overly reliant on their skipper Joe Root and the head coach Chris Silverwood has rung a couple of changes with Dawid Malan and Saqib Mahmood replacing top-order batsmen Dominic Sibley and Zak Crawley. Bowling-wise, fast bowler Mark Wood is a major doubt after picking a shoulder injury during the Lord’s Test match.
Headingly Cricket Ground, the home of Yorkshire cricket club is heaven for the fast bowlers and the Indian fans would be glad to know that the record wicket-taker at the venue Stuart Broad has been already been ruled out of the series due to an injury.
Let’s have a look at the contingent available to Kohli and Shastri to pick a playing XI for the third Test match.
Squad: Virat Kohli ©, Ajinka Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul. Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah
Here, we will look at the possible Indian XI that might step out on the field on Wednesday with a chance to take an early lead in a 5-Test series.
Top Order: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara
Rahul and Sharma enjoying their partnership against England
The story of the top order batting performances couldn’t be more different for two sides playing on the same pitch as the in-form KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma have dominated the English bowling attack. Whilst the Karnataka batsman has played two big knocks including a splendid innings of 129 runs, Sharma scored 83 runs in a quick dash at Lord’s.
Cheteshwar Pujara’s place in the team was under the microscope but the experienced batsman played a patient knock on Day 4 of the Lord’s test match to ensure the visitors don’t end up on the losing side at the home of cricket.
Middle Order: Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja
Rahane and Kohli batting together out in the middle
Virat Kohli has come under criticism for not playing a big knock in the longest format since the beginning of 2020 and the skipper would need to bury his bad patch of form to come good in the next match of the series.
Similarly, India’s vice-captain in the multi-day format, Ajinkya Rahane was under pressure for not performing in the ongoing series but he proved his doubters wrong by scoring 62 runs in the second innings at Lord’s helping India set a platform for their first win of the series.
Rishabh Pant is India’s top scorer in the Test format since the beginning of 2020 and the wicket-keeper batsman would be looking to contribute in the upcoming Test match as well.
Ravichandran Ashwin is arguably the best spinner in international cricket and the Chennai-born bowler played in county cricket ahead of the series against England to better his preparations for the ongoing series. But the pace-friendly pitches have forced the visitors to play only one spinner and Ravindra Jadeja gets the nod ahead of his former Chennai Super Kings teammate since the southpaw is more useful with the bat.
Lower Order: Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
(From L, Clockwise) Siraj, Bumrah, Sharma, and Shami
India has one of the best fast bowling contingents in the world with multiple seamers ready to come up with match-winning performances at any point in the match.
Shardul Thakur’s presence in the playing XI gives the team an edge in the batting but it is tough to tinker with a winning combination and India might step out on the ground with the same bowling attack in the upcoming Test match.
Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah were more than useful with the bat at Lord’s and the duo opens the bowling for the visitors securing their spots in the playing XI for the next match. Mohammed Siraj took 8 wickets in the last test and the evergreen Ishant Sharma would be relied upon once again to provide important breakthroughs whenever required.