The third Test match of the Pataudi Trophy between England and India will be played on Thursday, 25th August, at Headingley, Leeds.
Can Team India get a 2-0 lead in the third test?
After a thumping 151-run win at Lord’s, the Virat Kohli-led side will be roaring to go in the third test and will look to clinch the series. Considering the seaming friendly conditions at Headingley, India will go with the 4-1 combination. India will tinker with the combination unless they have to make a forced change. The four-pace battery is high-on-confidence and will look to repeat the same performance.
“Most likely it will be a template going ahead [4-1 combination], but we’ve always been adaptable as well, to the conditions and pace of the wicket,” Kohli had said after the first Test.
However, according to several reports, Ashwin could be added to the Playing XI in place of Jadeja. At Leeds, spinners have the best record out of all the English venues. But it doesn’t seem to be a case as Jadeja hasn’t done much wrong in the first two tests. With Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane finding some runs in the second test will surely boost their confidence.
Dawid would obviously offer us a lot of experience in that top three: Joe Root
England has a problem of plenty. They have made some changes to their squad. England dropped Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley, with Dawid Malan earning a recall to the Test side. Pacer Saqib Mahmood has been called up to cover for Mark Wood, with Stuart Broad out of the series. With Sibley out, Haseeb Hammed is likely to open with Rory Burns. It will be interesting to see who gets the place at No.3 – Ollie Pope or Dawid Malan.
Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer, and Chris Woakes already missing the series due to injuries, and Ben Stokes taking an indefinite break to focus on his mental wellbeing. And now, Mark Wood, too, has joined the list of absentees. Saqib Mahmood is likely to make a Test debut at Leeds in the third test.
“Dawid would obviously offer us a lot of experience in that top three. Not necessarily… in Test cricket but he has played a huge amount of international cricket now and dealt with pressure situations. He’s played in a massive series in Australia away and been our leading run-scorer out there, so we know that he’s capable of big things in Test match cricket.” said Joe Root in Press Conference
Team News
England
Mark Wood was ruled out of the third Test with a jarred right shoulder.
“He will remain with the squad in Leeds and will continue his rehab with the England medical team,” said ECB in a statement
India
Shardul Thakur is fit and available for selection for the third test.
Records that might be broken in the third test
1. Virat Kohli needs 391 more to register 8,000 runs in Tests and become the sixth Indian to do so.
2. Jasprit Bumrah has taken 95 wickets and needs 5 more to become the twenty-third Indian player to reach the 100 wickets milestone.
3. R Ashwin needs just four more wickets to surpass Harbhajan Singh (417) and become the third-highest wicket-taker for India.
4. Ishant Sharma needs one more wicket to surpass Zaheer Khan (311). As of now, he has claimed 311 scalps at 31.93
5. Kohli needs 211 more to breach the 1,000-run mark against England in England.
6. Mohammad Shami has taken 191 wickets and needs 9 more to become the eleventh Indian player to reach the 200 wickets milestone
Teams record at the ground (Leeds)
| Team | Matches Played | Won | Lost |
| India | 6 | 2 | 3 |
| England | 77 | 34 | 25 |
Match details
Date: August 25-29, 2021 (Wednesday-Sunday).
Time: 11:00 AM (Local/ BST), 03:30 PM (IST), and 10:00 AM (GMT).
Venue: Headingley, Leeds.
Predicted XIs
England: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan/ Ollie Pope, Joe Root (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Ollie Robinson, Sam Curran, Saqib Mahmood/Craig Overton, and James Anderson.
India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja/ Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami
TV and live streaming details
TV: Sony Six (English) and Sony Ten 3 (Hindi)
Live Streaming: SonyLiv