England on Wednesday (February 14) announced their playing XI for the third Test against India, starting on February 15 in Rajkot.

After warming the bench in the second Test, speedster Mark Wood returned to the visitors’ playing XI, replacing off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, who debuted at Vizag.

The Three Lions have played just one seamer in each of the first two Tests, with Wood getting the nod in the series opener at Hyderabad before being replaced by the veteran James Anderson in the second match at Vizag.

Left-arm orthodox Tom Hartley, who produced a match-winning spell in the Hyderabad Test, will continue to lead England’s spin attack in the absence of Jack Leach, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the series due to a knee injury.

Leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed also retained his place in the side after picking up six wickets in the Vizag Test.

The rest of the line-up remains the same. The dynamic duo of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett will open the innings, followed by Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow.

Skipper Ben Stokes is slotted to bat at No. 6 while Ben Foakes is the designated wicketkeeper-batter in the side.

After the first two Tests, the five-match series is evenly poised at 1-1. While England won the series opener by 28 runs, the hosts bounced back to win the second Test by 106 runs.

England’s playing XI for third Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, James Anderson, Mark Wood