India wins toss, opt to bat first in 3rd Test; Axar benched

Ahead of the third Test, players like Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel were handed their Test caps. English skipper Ben Stokes is to play his 100th Test match.

Rajkot: India won the toss and decided to bat first against England in the third Test match of the five-game series at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot on Thursday.

Ahead of the third Test, players like Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel were handed their Test caps.
English skipper Ben Stokes is to play his 100th Test match. Meanwhile, star India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is likely to take his 500th Test wicket. On the other hand, James Anderson looks for 700 wickets.

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The series is currently level at 1-1. After a 28-run loss in the first Hyderabad Test, India won the second Test at Visakhapatnam by 106 runs.

While speaking at the toss, India skipper Rohit said that Axar Patel and Mukesh Kumar will miss the third Test match. He also confirmed that Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja will play in the Rajkot Test.

“We’re going to bat first. We’ve made some changes, made four changes. Some injuries and some guys coming back from the last game. Two debutants. Siraj and Jadeja are back. Axar Patel and Mukesh Kumar miss out. Looks a good pitch, better than the last two we’ve played on. Rajkot is known to be a good pitch but it’ll deteriorate as it goes. The guys have stood up and done the job for the team when it was needed. The next three Test matches will be as exciting as the first two. Need to keep our focus here and see how we can do well,” Rohit said.

The English captain said that Mark Wood will replace Shoaib Bashir in the squad for the visitors.

“We would’ve batted first too. (On playing his 100th Test) Time flies when you’re having fun. The series has been a fair reflection of both teams, we’ve been very happy with the way we’ve gone about things in the first two Tests. We had a nice break, gave everyone a chance to relax. There was no cricket, we got the families out, it was great. Being here for so long is both physically and mentally demanding. Was a nice opportunity to put the feet up and get some time away from cricket. In Test matches there are only so many moments that you sieze the game in and that’s what India did in the last one. Just one change for us,” Stokes said.

England Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (C), Ben Foakes (Wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson.

India Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (Wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.