India’s hopes of strengthening their green middle order with KL Rahul’s experience in Thursday’s third test against England ended as he failed to recover from his injury.
Rahul, a 31-year-old veteran of 50 Tests, scored 86 in India’s first innings of the series, but could not take part in the second Test in Visakhapatnam with a quad injury. He was selected in the squad for the rest of the series based on his fitness, but has now been excluded from the third Test in Rajkot.
With the series deadlocked at 1-1, instead of going back to the fallen Shreyas Iyer or the out-of-favour Cheteshwar Pujara, India called up 23-year-old Devdutt Padikkal instead. Pujara’s case was quite attractive considering Rajkot is his hometown and he won the Ranji Trophy this week. Padikkal, an attacking left-hander, is also in form and scored 151 in the Ranji Trophy match that ended on Monday.
Padikkal will take on Sarfaraz Khan as his debut in the inexperienced middle-order missing Virat Kohli, who will not feature in the series due to personal reasons. India has the blood of middle-order Rajat Patidar, who made his debut in Vizag, and captains Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are 22 and 24 respectively.
It remains to be seen whether all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja will return to the team in Rajkot after missing the second Test due to a hamstring problem. Star seamer Jasprit Bumrah is expected to play in Rajkot but is expected to be rested for the fourth Test in Ranchi due to managing his workload.
England won the first match of the series thanks to Ollie Pope’s 196 and Tom Hartley’s seven in the second innings. India bounced back with a win in the second match, set up by Jaiswal’s double century and complemented by Bumrah’s nine wickets in the match.
England are currently in the UAE with their families and will fly to India on Monday to continue training, two days before the start of the third Test. However, one of the players who will not return to India is Jack Leach, who has a knee injury and cannot take part in the rest of the series.
What is the full fixture list and schedule?
All times United Kingdom
1. Test: 25-29 January, Hyderabad – England win by 28 runs
2. Test: 2-6 February, Visakhapatnam – India win by 106 runs
3. Test: 15–19 February, Rajkot (start at 4am)
4. Test: 23-27 February, Ranchi (start at 4am)
5. Test: March 7–11, Dharamsala (start at 4am)
On which channel is the India-England match?
In the UK, TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is showing the series after the deal was agreed just nine days before the first ball was bowled. Matches can also be watched on Discovery+. Commentary comes from the world broadcast featuring Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan.
Despite no studio presence in the first Test, for the rest of the series TNT Sports flew Alastair Cook and Steven Finn to Sweden to wake up early and be on screen. Studio host Kate Mason.
Live radio coverage is on Talksport 2, not BBC Test Match Special. Despite the BBC bidding for the rights, it was defeated by the commercial broadcaster. Talksport will broadcast the next leg of England’s tour of India primarily from London, with a significantly reduced squad in Rajkot and Ranchi.
Who is in the England squad?
England’s 16-man squad includes young and experienced players. Experienced players like Joe Root and James Anderson are accompanied by rookie spinners in Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley; Tom Hartley took nine wickets in the opening match. Harry Brook was allowed to return to the UK for personal reasons before the first Test even started. There is no suggestion he will join the tour at any stage and his place in the squad has been taken by Dan Lawrence. England will have to make do without Jack Leach for the last three Tests, with the spinner unable to recover from the knee injury he sustained on the field on the opening day of the series.
England’s 16-man squad for India
Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow (goalkeeper), Shoaib Bashir, Harry BrookZak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack LeachOllie Papa, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood
Additional: DanLawrence
Who is in the India squad?
Besides Kohli, India also left out middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer in the last three Tests but named Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul in the squad. Jadeja (hamstring) and Rahul (thigh) missed India’s win in Vizag and will face fitness tests in Rajkot before a decision is made on their participation in that match.
Iyer made only scores of 35, 13, 27 and 29 in the first two Tests but excelled in the field, taking a crucial catch off Zak Crawley in the first innings in Vizag and striking out Ben Stokes on the final day. India expect Rahul to return in the middle-order and remain confident in Rajit Patidar, who made an assured debut in the second Test.
It is not yet known whether Jasprit Bumrah will play in Rajkot. India are expected to rest him in at least one of the next two Tests before a brief break before the final match of the series at Dharamshala. Seamer Akash Deep, who was the leading wicket-taker for the India A team in the last series against the Lions, has been called up to the Test squad for the first time.
India’s remaining Tests squad:
Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (wk), Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar , Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.
What are the venues and stadiums for testing?
Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium/Uppal Stadium
Location: hyderabad
Established: 2003
Capacity: 55,000
Dr YS Rajashekar Reddy ACA – VDCA Cricket Stadium
Location: visakhapatnam
Established: 2003
Capacity: 40,000
Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium/Khandheri Cricket Stadium
Location: rajkot
Established: 2009
Capacity: 28,000
Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium
Location: ranchi
Established: 2011
Capacity: 50,000
Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium
Location: Dharamsala
Established: 2003
Capacity: 23,000
What are the latest Test results between the two teams?
India in England (2021)
August: The match was drawn
August: India won by 151 runs
August: England won by an innings and 76 runs
September: India won by 157 runs
July 2022 (match postponed due to Covid): England won by seven wickets
England in India (2021)
February: England won by 227 runs
February: India won by 317 runs
February: India won by 10 wickets
March: India won by an innings and 25 runs