England vs India 2021, 3rd Test: Preview – Pitch report, Probable XI and Head to Head record

England and India are set to face each other in the third Tꦯest at Headingley in Leওeds, starting Wednesday (August 25).

The visitors are 1-0 ahead in the ongoing five-match series after registering a ꦍmemorable victory in the second Test by a massive margin of ꦬ151 runs. The Virat Kohli-led side will𝕴 e𝓡nter Headingley with supreme confidence and shall look to record another triumph in order to gain an unassailable lead.

On the other hand, the hosts, who have been hit by several i🍸njury concerns, will be focusing to bounce ꦛback to level the series.

Pitch report:

The surface at Headingley has always been batting friendly, with a fair amount of assistance for pacers in the initial phase of the game. So far, this ground has hosted 78 matches in which 29 have been won by teams batting fꦫirst while 31 victories have come while bowling first.

Head to Head record (in England):

Matches played: 64 | E𒁃ngland won: 34 | India won: 8 | Draw: 22 | Tied: 0

Playing Combination:

England

England have dropped the likes of Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley for the third Test. In such case, Haseeb Hameed will open the innings alongside Rory Burns while Dawid Malan shall come at number three spot.

Similarly, the hosts will also make a forced change as Mark Wood, who troubled Indian batters with his extra pace in the previous game, has been ruled ﷺout of third Test due to should✱er injury. Pacer Saqib Mahmood is likely💞 to replace Wood in the upcoming fixture to finally make his Test debut.

ENG XI: Joe Root (c), Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairs꧑to🔯w, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson, Saqib Mahmood, James Anderson.

India

It is highly unlikely that India would make any changes in the winning combination. However, their batting is still one of the biggest concerns. The tourists would be hoping to see their skipper Kohli overcome his bad form and reach a triple-figure mark. Kohli’s last Test ton came in November 2019 against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

IND XI: Virat Kohli (c)꧅, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohamme📖d Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.