Ben Stokes has been called back into the England team in place of Sam Curran, the man of the match at Edgbaston.
England is looking to wrap up the series early after two convincing victories over the number one ranked Test side in the world.
Stokes was acquitted of affray earlier in the week and was immediately brought back into the squad in order for his fitness to be assessed ahead of the third Test. Curran was the star of the first Test and was easily the difference between the sides at Edgbaston, where England took a vital one-nil series lead. After Chris Woakes produced his own astonishing man of the match performance in the second Test at Lord’s, it put the England selectors in an extremely difficult position in terms of how to accommodate the return of Stokes.
‘It was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make as captain. It’s about us as a squad delivering over five games and on this occasion, Sam is unfortunate to miss out,’ said England captain Joe Root. ‘Ben is desperate to get back to playing cricket. He’s desperate to get out there, put in performances and concentrate on his cricket now. He feels ready to play.’
England’s Ollie Pope is set to gain his second Test cap in a side likely to feature just the one change from Lord’s.
The Indian batters’ struggles have not been reserved solely for the England tour, as Virat Kohli has played a lone hand in 2017-18 on the tours to South Africa and England.
Kohli is the leading run-scorer in the series with 240 runs (ave 60.00), but the next highest Indian batter is Hardik Pandya with 90 runs (ave 22.50). The gulf between the sides is highlighted by the fact that four England batters are sandwiched between the two top Indian batters: Jonny Bairstow (191 runs), Woakes (137), Curran (127) and Root (113).
On the bowling front, the fact that England won by an innings at Lord’s reduced the wicket-taking possibilities of the Indian bowlers. England’s Jimmy Anderson has been superb with the ball, taking 13 wickets (ave 10.30), with teammate Stuart Broad and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma all on seven wickets for the series.
For India, Rishabh Pant is in the frame for a Test debut at Trent Bridge after Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper for the first two Tests) was seen helping him during keeping drills. Karthik has struggled with his form and has also been bothered by a niggling injury he picked up at Lord’s.
While his keeping was reasonable in the first two Tests, he failed with the bat, after producing two ducks, a single and a top score of 20. Pant was also seen batting after the Indian top-order batters had finished their sessions.
Indian coach Ravi Shastri has rallied his troops to produce a competitive challenge for England, urging his players to believe in themselves as they’ve been in similar positions before and have responded well. ‘One thing for sure in this unit is that there’s no negative bone. In spite of what happened in the last Test match where conditions favoured England, but that’s no excuse whatsoever. It can happen to any side. We are here without a negative bone, with one thing: to play to win, simple as that,’ said Shastri.
‘I don’t think it’s fair to single out any one player. Batsmen from both teams have struggled when the occasion demands,’ added Shastri. ‘It’s a case of mental resolve, or you put mind over matter, and mental discipline will be the key as far as batsmen are concerned going forward.
‘Conditions have been tough as you’ve seen right through this series but that’s where character comes into play and mental discipline comes into play. The resolve to know where your off-stump is, to leave a lot of balls, to be prepared to look ugly and dirty and show some grit.’
Play starts on Saturday at noon SAST.
Photo: Philip Brown/Getty Images
