The Cricketer previews the third match of the four-Test series in Ahmedabad, with the series poised at 1-1…
The third of four Tests between India and England.
The third Test begins on February 24 and is the first day-night Test between the two sides. The full schedule is below.
First Test: February 5-9 (9.30am local time, 4am GMT) - England won by 227 runs
Second Test: February 13-17 (9.30am local time, 4am GMT) – India won by 317 runs
Third Test: February 24-28 (2.30pm local time, 9am GMT)
Fourth Test: March 4-8 (9.30am local time, 4am GMT)
The third Test sees the series move to Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel Stadium. As of the completion of its reconstruction last year, it is the world’s largest cricket ground, with a seating capacity of 110,000.
Dafabet have installed India as favourite to take the lead in the series, offering odds of 8/15. England are at 3/1 to restore their advantage and you can back a draw at 5/1.
Joe Root is once again tipped to be England’s highest run-scorer, with odds of 23/10, while India’s Ravichandran Ashwin is 9/5 to be the leading wicket-taker.
England are without Moeen Ali for the remainder of the series after allowed the batting allrounder to return home following the second Test in Chennai. The 33-year old missed the Sri Lanka series due to a positive Covid-19 test but returned in Chennai to take 8-226 and score 49 runs in his first red-ball fixture for 18 months. Ali will re-join the tour ahead of March’s five-match T20 series alongside wicketkeeper-batsman, Jos Buttler, and Sam Curran.
Back in contention after travelling home for the first two Tests are Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood. However, despite Bairstow’s return, Ben Foakes is expected to keep the gloves with Bairstow slotting into the top order as a specialist batsman.
Moeen Ali, celebrating dismissing Virat Kohli during the second Test is Chennai, will miss the remainder of the Test series.
James Anderson and Dom Bess could also return to the starting XI after being rested for the second Test in Chennai while injured duo Jofra Archer (elbow) and Zak Crawley (wrist) are back in training.
India, meanwhile, remain without talismanic allrounder Ravindra Jadeja (thumb) but are boosted by the return of seamer Umesh Yadav (calf). The 33-year old has 148 wickets in 48 matches for India and passed a fitness test on Saturday to return to the squad.
Opener Shubman Gill is fit to return after suffering an injury to his left forearm during the second Test while Jasprit Bumrah, rested in Chennai, could be recalled for an added pace option with the pink ball.
India’s third Test squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav
England's third Test squad: Joe Root, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
England reserves: James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Amar Virdi
Defeat in the second Test saw England drop from first to fourth in the World Test Championship standings. With the series tied at 1-1, England need to win the remaining two Tests to set up a clash with New Zealand at Lord’s in June.
India, meanwhile, need to win the series 2-1 or 3-1 to qualify. In short, they need to avoid defeat at any cost.
If the series is drawn (1-1 or 2-2) or England win the series 2-1, Australia will join New Zealand in the final.
1st look at Cricket’s 🏏 largest stadium 🏟 110,000 capacity pretty impressive 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/TvkPmti8y5
— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) February 19, 2021
Spectators are being allowed to watch the first international match at the Sardar Patel Stadium. The sold-out ground will reportedly be operating at 50% capacity to allow social distancing to be in operation throughout the stadium.
Channel 4 will broadcast the series in the United Kingdom, with the content available online via its streaming platform All 4. Highlights will be shown twice on More4 following the conclusion of play.
Radio coverage of the series will be provided by TalkSPORT2.
In India, the series will be broadcast on Star Sports.
SuperSport are showing the matches in South Africa.
Fox Sports and Kayo have footage of the Tests in Australia, which fans can following the action in New Zealand on Sky Sport 2.
Images courtesy of BCCI
This preview is brought to you in association with Dafabet India. For more on Dafabet and to place a bet, click here.
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