A confident India cricket team will aim to extend their lead in the English tour to 2-0 when they take on England in the third Test at the Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds starting from Wednesday, August 25.
The Virat Kohli-led India scripted history in the second Test at Lord’s after beating England by 151 runs. It was India’s first victory at the venue in Test cricket since 2014.
Given that the bowling line-up has worked well for India so far, they are expected to continue with the same line-up. The only change they might make is to bring in Ravichandran Ashwin into the side, in place of Ravindra Jadeja. The pace attack of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Ishant Sharma is likely to be retained.
As for England, they have been on a rather strange patch of form and have not won any of their last four home Tests. Their last win in Test cricket on home soil dates back to August 8, 2020, when they defeated Pakistan at Old Trafford.
The English team has been over reliant on captain Joe Root and veteran bowler James Anderson. In two Tests so far, England have recorded a whopping 12 ducks. In fact, since 2019, the team has had 42 ducks in 16 home Tests. Only Zimbabwe are averaging more ducks than England (3.00) in home Tests during that time frame. To make things worse, they will be without fast bowler Mark Wood in the third Test after he was ruled out due to a shoulder injury
Unlike the first two matches, the third Test is likely to be played on a drier surface and spin might play a big role towards the end. The seamers will have their say in the opening days given that the weather in Leeds is expected to be cloudy. It could be tricky conditions for India as they will play their first Test at the venue in 19 years.
England vs India squads for third Test
England: Joe Root (captain), Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Daniel Lawrence, Dominic Sibley, Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson, Craig Overton, Jonny Bairstow, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Ollie Pope, James Anderson, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, Moeen Ali
India: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav
Where to watch the England vs India third Test live in India?
Live telecast of England vs India third Test will be available on Sony Six, Sony Ten 3, Sony Ten 4 and their corresponding HD TV channels in India on Wednesday, August 25 from 3.30 pm IST.
Live streaming for England vs India third Test in India will be available on the SonyLiv website and app from 3.30 pm IST.
For England vs India live score, click here.
Featured photo: AFP / Glyn Kirk
