by For all the talk of being willing to lose to win, this is the time for England not to let India off the hook again.
With Virat Kohli out of the series and KL Rahul failing a fitness test, India remain severely weakened. They could have two middle-order players – uncapped Rajat Patidar and Sarfaraz Khan – with only one Test appearance between them.
Shreyas Iyer has dropped and out of the remaining top six, captain Rohit Sharma has only significant Test match experience and is out of form.
Shubman Gill restored some confidence with a second innings hundred in the second Test and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s double century brought victory but England were still in control for most of the game, making India’s second highest number of fourth innings by a visiting team. Even chasing 399, there was a nagging feeling that they let it slip, which is a testament to their Bazball prowess even when they were up against the art of Jasprit Bumrah.
Wood ready for back testing
England will never admit it, but they made the mistake of picking one seamer for the first two Tests and will rebalance their attack here with Mark Wood in the last 12 likely to replace Shoaib Bashir or Rehan Ahmed , if available afterwards. its single entry visa error. England cannot blame Indian fussiness this time. It was her mistake, pure and simple.
Two seals give England more grip with the new ball and other options if he reverses later. Stokes denied the decision was driven by Jaiswal’s opposition but he was almost out caught down the leg side when Wood bounced in the first Test and struggled against pace in South Africa last month.
Of course the problem is for England making a big score against the genius of Bumrah. He is the match winner, and after a week’s rest he should be ready to go again, although there are suggestions he is not happy after being promised he could be rested for the third Test. That would make no sense for India after his nine wickets in Visakhapatnam and his grip on Joe Root.
Ravi Ashwin is on 499 wickets and started teasing England on the pitch in Visakhapatnam but they have dealt with him well so far, he is going 4 in this series for the first time in his career.
For England to have any chance of ruling this Test they need a batsman to get a score and it looks like they can’t win the series without finding Root. Eight years ago in Rajkot, three England batsmen scored hundreds in the first innings of 537, including Stokes himself. England’s victories in India have been built on big innings – think Kevin Pietersen and Cook in Mumbai in 2012, Root in Chennai in 2020 and Ollie Pope a few weeks ago in Hyderabad.
The danger in Bazball is that England, in their quest for dominance, will give it away as they did in the first innings in Vizag when the flying Zak Crawley was caught in the air for 76 and his team 114 off one after restricting India to the under side. 400 on a zoned pitch, their young spinners doing a commendable job of giving control. England spent a week off in Abu Dhabi with their family and did not train once, but they may have had time to reflect on the missed chances. Crawley’s highest score in the Examination was 76. He’s not going to win games on flat pitches.
But if it all comes together and Crawley, Pope and Ben Duckett have all performed so far, Rajkot is the kind of ground where Rohit could learn what it felt like to be Pat Cummins at Old Trafford when England were in one of those feelings and the ball flew to all parts.
Stokes to earn 100th test cap
In his 100th Test Stokes will have to call on all his tactical nous to get things done when he is balanced. England have taken 40 wickets in this series so far and in only two Tests since the Bazball era have they not taken all 20 in a match (when they lost by an innings to South Africa and when Ireland were down by 10 suitable players in the second innings at Lord’s).
Stokes will be happy to gamble going 2-1 down with two Tests to play as they look to go 2-1 up. The third test match could be similar to Rawalpindi in December last year when Stokes should have won for his captain alone. He and Brendon McCullum inspired his players to score 506 on the first day and then dictated the pace of the rest of the game, giving themselves enough time to win in the closing moments of the fifth day.
England scored at seven overs during the Test and Stokes declared his second innings at tea on the fourth day giving Pakistan a real sniff, setting a target of 343 in four sessions on a pitch that had made more than 1,500 runs. already.
Compare that to Rajkot eight years ago when England left themselves too little time to win, preferring to make sure they didn’t lose first. Alastair Cook set India to 350 in the minimum of 49 overs and England struck in 3.44 overs to set up the declaration. That was the way it was considered to be played on the fair pitches of Asia at the time. Stokes has changed that.
Stokes has no interest in milestones – just victory. It means he won’t want any sentimental guff about playing his 100th Test. “It’s just a number,” he said. Victory number 15 of his career as captain is what he cares about. He would overtake Nasser Hussain (17 from 45 games) and Mike Brearley (18 from 31). He would not know, or care about the statistics.
