The Test series between India and England moves from Chennai to the new stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday when the two nations do battle in what is just the second day/night Test match to be held on Indian soil.
India dominated the second Test a week or so ago to level up the series which means that the two teams go into this match knowing that the winner will be guaranteed a share of the series ahead of the final game next week.
India
If the first Test wasn’t really an Indian performance the second one certainly was as they controlled the game from start to finish. Much was made of the pitch after the game but all that did was take away from a brilliant performance from India. It could have been better for certain players but as a team they made full use of winning the toss and from the moment Rohit Sharma opened his shoulders on the opening day the result was never in any doubt.
The Indian bowlers were given a pitch from which to win the match on but even though that was the case sometimes you see the pressure get to the bowlers but that was never the case for India, even though they were missing some big players in that game. The task now is to repeat that and definitely not think about their woes of the last time they played with the pink ball, when they were shot out for just 36 in Australia.
England
Given how well they played in the first Test, England will have been disappointed to lose so tamely in the second one. It was expected when we saw the pitch that was being used for the match but even so they could have gone down with a better fight than what they showed. Despite that they have had enough time to take stock of where they are in the series and even though they lost tamely last time out, they can still secure a share of the series here.
England will need to get back to batting line they did in the opening match when they scored steadily but with a purpose. If they can do that again here then they have the attack to pick up 20 wickets in these conditions. Although there was a lot of doom and gloom after the second Test, if you had offered England the chance to seal a share of the series in this match at the outset they would have bitten your hand off.
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Team News
Jasprit Bumrah will return to the India side after having the last game off which leaves one decision to be made which is which of the Yadav’s play. Kuldeep will get the nod if India play three spinners while Umesh will start if they want the extra seamer.
England will have Jonny Bairstow back in their ranks after he was released for the first two matches of the series. He is set to replace Dan Lawrence while Zak Crawley’s return from injury could see the end of Rory Burns. James Anderson and Jofra Archer have been confirmed as the seamers with Chris Woakes potentially a third one. If he doesn’t play Dom Bess could do.
Betting
I’ll go with the one bet in this match and that is for Ben Foakes to exceed his performance line of 85.5pts. He comfortably overcame that in the previous match where he scored 139 points in a game played on a pitch which didn’t suit the seamers where most of the catches come from. That makes me think that he’ll be even more in the game here where the wicket is expected to provide a bit of pace and nip for the quicker bowlers.
Foakes is a very accomplished batsman who should enjoy himself on a decent batting wicket. He was the best player with the bat in the previous game and in theory should be even more suited to this one. Given that he is likely to be in the game a lot more with the gloves to the point where he could cover more than half of this total in that discipline I’ve got to think his over is very much worth playing in this third Test match.
Tips
Back B.Foakes’ Performance – Over 85.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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