The 3rd Test to begin on August 25 with India leading the series 1-0.
India is 1-0 up in the series and England is hurting after getting bowled out in 60 overs on day 5 in Lord’s and losing the Test match, which they should have saved if not for some mind-boggling bowling at Indian lower-order batters and then the complete collapse of batting under pressure from an amazing India pace lineup.
While England has announced their 15-man squad for the third Test with some changes, Team COC presents their predicted Team India playing XI for the third Test at Headingley Leeds.
Given that the playing XI that the Indian team management fielded at Lord’s performed inexplicably well, not many changes are expected to happen as it is not a good thing to tinker with a winning combination.
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma gave India the platform it needed in the first innings with a century stand for the first wicket and both the batsmen made merry against England's bowling attack. Rahul scored a sublime hundred and has more or less cemented his spot for the third Test, if not for the remainder of the series.
Rohit Sharma made a brilliant 83 as well and his place is not in danger. This means Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw will have to wait for their chance to come.
The middle-order showed some spine with Pujara, Rahane, and Kohli all looking good, despite not registering a three-figure mark in either of the first two Tests, but impressed at Lord’s. While there was the hope of Suryakumar Yadav coming in the middle order, with Rahane and Pujara putting on a much-needed 100-run stand in the second innings, they are expected to hold onto their spots.
Rishabh Pant has done nothing wrong with the bat and has only impressed with his keeping in England.
There is an outside chance of bringing in either R Ashwin or Shardul Thakur in the team for Ravindra Jadeja, who hasn’t bowled much but has done enough with the bat, while Shardul can come in handy with the bat and is a genuine swing bowler.
If conditions are helpful for either of the players, Indian team management might be enticed to bring them in for either Jadeja or Ishant Sharma. Though Ishant impressed with his pace and got the crucial wickets of Jonny Bairstow and Haseeb Hameed, Shardul’s batting just edges him ahead.
Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj are perhaps one of the hottest pace bowling attacks in the world at the moment, and the way the trio blew away the England batting in both innings, with only Joe Root standing tall, these three are expected to torment the England batsmen further in the third Test which begins on August 25 in Headingley.
COC Predicted Team India Playing XI for third Test at Headingley, Leeds:
KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj