Following their resounding victory in the Vizag Test, India will look to continue the momentum when they take on England in the third Test, starting at Rajkot from Thursday, February 15, 2024.
Injuries continue to hamper the Indians as K L Rahul was ruled out of the Test after failing to fully recover from his injury, while Virat Kohli is still unavailable due to personal reasons.
But they got a timely boost as spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was ruled fit for his home Test. Jadeja had hit a century in the last Test at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium -- which will be named the Niranjan Shah stadium on Thursday in honour of the cricket administrator's many services for cricket in the Gujarat province -- against the West Indies in October 2018.
The venue has so far hosted two Tests with India winning one while the other finished in a draw. India and England played the first Test at this venue in 2016, in which the visitors did quite well as the hosts somehow escaped with a draw on the fifth day. India defeated the West Indies in the next.
India's batting has been a major issue in the series, with only Yashasvi Jaiswal the standout performer so far with a double century in the Vizag Test.
Shubman Gill ended his poor run in Test cricket with a vital century in the second Test, but Captain Rohit Sharma is yet to find his form, managing just 90 runs in four innings.
Shreyas Iyer with similar numbers (104 runs in 4 innings) was dropped which means India will have a new-look middle order in the Rajkot Test.
Rajat Patidar, who made 41 runs in his debut match in Vizag, is expected to retain his place in the middle order and will bat at No. 4. Following him will be Mumbai's run machine Sarfaraz Khan, who will finally get his first chance at the international level.
India could field another debutant with Dhruv Jurel set to replace K S Bharat as the wicket-keeper after the latter's struggles with the bat. Bharat scored 17 and 6 runs in the second Test at Vishakapatnam and may lose his place even though his glovework has been top notch.
It is hard to remember when India fielded such an inexperienced batting line-up in a Test match. Rohit is the most experienced with 56 Tests, followed by Gill with 22 games.
Overall, the eight batters in India's squad including the two wicket-keepers have a combined experience of 92 Tests with three of them yet to make their debut, including new comer Devdutt Padikkal.
India's selectors stuck with youth even though they had the option of recalling the experienced Cheteshwar Pujara at his home stadium after he had stroked a fine century for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy match against Rajasthan last week.
It may look like a big gamble from the selectors, but the likes of Patidar and Sarfaraz have certainly done enough to force their way into the Indian team.
The pitch is again expected to favour spin and be on the slower side which should benefit Patidar and Sarfaraz, both of whom have a superb record in domestic cricket and known to be good players of spin.
Jadeja's return will make things difficult for the team management. It will be interesting to see if he replaces Axar Patel or Kuldeep Yadav.
Kuldeep took four wickets in the Vizag Test; he also picked five wickets in the second innings in the last Test played at this venue, against the West Indies in 2018.
India have preferred Axar for his ability to score runs down the order. He has taken five wickets at an average of 41 in the first two Tests, but is the third highest run-getter for India with 133 runs at an average of 33.
If Jadeja is back, then India will most likely replace him with Axar and stick with Kuldeep, who has been much more effective with the ball.
India's hopes with the ball will again largely rest on Jasprit Bumrah, who single-handedly turned the second Test on its head with an sensational exhibition of reverse swing in the first innings. Mohammed Siraj, who was rested for the second Test, is set to come back in place of Mukesh Kumar.
Surprisingly, Ravichandran Ashwin hasn't been his dominating self with the ball in home conditions as we have been accustomed to in recent years. He managed just nine wickets in the two Tests at an average of 36.
England are likely to continue with their aggressive batting tactics in the Rajkot Test. They bounced back to win the first Test in Hyderabad but fell short in the next match as 'Bazball' proved to be their downfall as India's bowlers found a way to counter the English batters.
Zak Crawley has been England's top performer in the first two Tests. The tall right-hander has looked quite comfortable against both spin and ace but will be disappointed not to have made more of his good starts, hitting two half-centuries for 200 in four innings.
His opening partner Ben Duckett has smashed 131 runs at a strike rate of 97, but was unable to carry on to play a match defining knock, something which Ollie Pope managed in Hyderabad with his splendid 196.
Joe Root has struggled to make an impact with 86 runs from the two matches and his reckless dismissal in the second innings in Vizag stunned everyone. However, he has played a key role with the ball with five wickets but it is with the bat that England need him to fire and power them to huge totals.
The lack of runs from Captain Ben Stokes (134 runs @ 33.50) and senior pro Jonny Bairstow (98 @ 24.50) has proved crucial with India's bowlers able to bowl out England for under 300 in both innings on a good wicket in Vizag.
England suffered a blow ahead of the Rajkot Test as senior spinner Jack Leach was ruled out of the remainder of the series with an injury.
Their spin attack is quite thin on experience with Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir having a total experience of six Tests between them.
Left-arm spinner Hartley has done well with 14 wickets at an average of 24, while Rehan has taken eight in two games. Bashir wasn't able to make much of an impact in Vizag with four wickets at an average of 49.
England might once again go in with a lone pacer -- veteran James Anderson, who shone with five wickets in Vizag, along with four spinners including Root.
The first two matches lived up to its top billing, producing some exciting battles between bat and ball, and it won't be a surprise if we witness another invigorating contest in Rajkot.
Probable India XI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
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