- Monday, February 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA will look to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing five-match Test series against England when they take on the hosts in the third match starting at Headingley on Wednesday (25). The visitors made a remarkable comeback on the final day of the second Test match in Lord’s last week to thump the Three Lions by 151 runs. The first Test match in Nottingham was drawn after rain washed out a promising final day.
India will also hope to see their captain Virat Kohli returning among big knocks. The ace batsman’s last international hundred came in November 2019 and while he has scored a few 40s in the series so far, those have not met the high expectations that fans have from the modern-day great.
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Kohli, who was in good form in his last tour of England three years ago, looked a tad vulnerable around the off-stump in the first two Tests and one can expect him to have a tighter technique when the ball is pitched on the fourth stump at Headingley.
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India are also worried over the forms of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane even though the two played a key role at Lord’s by playing out most of Day 4 before the pacers went for the kill on the final day.
The tourists are comforted with their opening partners – Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul – who have given them solid starts both in the first and second Tests. Rahul, who was drafted into the team in place of Mayank Agarwal, has particularly grown in confidence and his hundred at Lord’s makes it evident. He now seems sure about which ball to play and which one to leave, which is critical for success in English conditions. Rohit, who had starts in both Tests but failed to turn them into big knocks, has also looked to be in sublime touch but needs to be careful over executing trademark pull shot, having fallen to that stroke twice in the series so far.
India are also expected to retain a four-pacer attack at Leeds and that means veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin might have to sit out again. Ravindra Jadeja, who is the side’s only specialist spinner in the series so far, is playing more as a batsman as the quick bowlers are taking wickets. Shardul Thakur, who missed the second Test after playing the first, is fit now but unlikely to return for the third match to disturb the balance in the pace attack that won India the Lord’s game.
India last played in Headingley in 2002 under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly and they won the match by an innings and 46 runs. None of the current players in the team has experience of playing on this ground and it will be interesting to see how quickly they adapt to the challenge.
England, on the other hand, will be hoping that their batting woes are behind them after the inclusion of white-ball specialist Dawid Malan. He, however, has played a Test match three years ago but is expected to add solidarity to a batting line-up which has looked fragile against an energetic Indian bowling attack. Barring captain Joe Root, England’s batting has struggled and the frontline batsmen will need to raise their game by quite a few notches if they aim to win the series. At Lord’s, they were all out for 120 after coming out to survive 60 overs with 10 wickets in hand.
The left-hander will bat at No.3, which will see Haseeb Hameed moving up the order to open with Rory Burns as Dom Sibley has been dropped. England’s bowling is plagued by injuries and with Mark Wood also getting ruled out, Saqib Mahmood could be in for his Test debut at Leeds.
Root has also hinted that England players will not involve themselves into needless exchanges with the opponent after things turned ugly at Lord’s.
Teams (from): India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav.
England: Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson.
