IND Vs ENG: The battle between the Indian spinners and the BAZBALL style players will continue, and it would be more intense after the five match series of the Test match format is leveled to one all in Visakhapatnam. After India lost the first Test in Hyderabad, Rohit Sharma and his men bounced back well in the second game of this series.
Shubman Gill and Yashaswi Jaiswal were the heroes for India with the bat in hand. Jaiswal scored his maiden double hundred in the 1st innings and Gill finally smashed a ton at the number three position in the second innings. Jasprit Bumrah was the hero with the red cherry as he picked up nine scalps in that match winning game for the Men in Blue.
The 3rd Test match of this five match red ball series will be played at Rajkot from 15th February 2024 to 19th February 2024. However the Indian board has announced the test squad for the first two red ball games only and now the BCCI will announce the team for the last three Test matches.
The BCCI is keeping these 3 points in mind before they move forward and announce the Test Squad –
The star pace bowler and the hero of the second red ball match between IND Vs ENG, Jasprit Bumrah is recently crowned as the number one pace bowler in the Test format. Bumrah is the only Indian pacer to be in the top rankings of the red ball format.
With he is also the only fast bowler to be ranked one in all the three forms of the game at the same time. His workload has been kept in mind before the squad is announced because Bumrah is also been look to be part of the T20 World Cup 2024 in USA and West Indies.
He will be part of the entire season of the IPL 2024 for the five time champion side Mumbai Indians. So the reports in the media say that Mohammed Siraj, who played the first Test match with Bumrah will be added as Jasprit's replacement.
The Karnataka batter, Kannur Lokesh Rahul has been in good form off late in the middle order. KL can also be a good wicketkeeping option for the 3rd Test match at Rajkot. But he was injured in the 1st red ball game of this series in Hyderabad, the match which the home side lost by 28 runs.
Due to that Rahul missed the second Test at Vizag. He is on the way of a potential return which will boost the side for the 3rd Test and if he is fully fit then Rahul can also replace KS Bharat as the wicketkeeper batter in the last three red ball matches of this five match series.
KS has been good behind the stumps. Still he hasn’t proved himself as the batter yet. So Rahul is the right choice as the replacement of Bharat because KL will add depth in the batter of Team India which India needs in all conditions.
The spin bowling all rounder Ravindra Jadeja also missed the second red ball game at Visakhapatnam due to his hamstring injury and he was replaced by Kuldeep Yadav who did a fare job along with Axar Patel in that Test match which India won by 106 runs.
Jaddu’s inclusion for the 3rd match of this five match red ball series will be decided on his fitness assessment and if he is declared fit then India's batting will have more depth because Jadeja is also a handy batter low down the order as well like Axar Patel.
