Ind vs Eng, 3rd Test: England win toss, elect to bat first

“We’ve had good results in the first two Test matches by doing that, so we’re not going to be trying to change anything we’ve done so far”.

A British tabloid published footages of Kohli applying saliva to the ball during the first Test against England at Rajkot.

England have plenty of homework to do to keep the series alive, not only in the bowling department, but also bring in ideal batsmen to combat the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Yadav. India dropped Ben Stokes twice and he went on to score a hundred as England drew the match. Notably, they were 1-0 down during the 2012/13 series before they went on to clinch it 2-1. He’s a batsman who if he gets in he doesn’t give it away, but obviously he’s found life tough and Bangladesh was obviously very tough.

The Mohali wicket is usually pacer-friendly wicket. So definitely India would want to have a barren pitch as much as possible.

But changing a winning team remains unlikely for the home side. Everyone knows that it isn’t easy to beat India in India.

The tourists, who flew to Chandigarh on Tuesday and will not practise on Wednesday, appear unlikely at this stage to risk Stuart Broad’s foot injury at the weekend – with Chris Woakes fit again after resting his knee niggle.

Woakes, set to return for England when the series resumes in Mohali on Saturday, has called for clarification of a “grey area” from administrators – but also spelled out, as the rules now stand, there is no need for Alastair Cook’s team to change their own methods. India are without KL Rahul and Wriddhiman Saha, who are both injured. Also, Ajinkya Rahane needs to look at his game in the nets as he hasn’t been up to the mark in this series.

“For a level 1 or level 2 offence that is alleged to have been committed at any time or place, the report must be lodged with the match referee within five days of the commission of the alleged offence”, said the ICC official.

All-out defence in the second innings of their 246-run defeat in Vizag worked, only partially, for captain Alastair Cook and his opening partner Haseeb Hameed. “As a bowling attack we speak about those plans and we’ll try and execute them in this third Test”.

“Jos is an extremely talented cricketer”, Cook told reporters, confirming Buttler will bat at number seven, while all-rounder Moeen Ali would come at four, ahead of wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.

“Although he was playing his first match, he showed a lot of maturity in the way he batted with the lower order and even in the second innings batting with (Mohammed) Shami and getting those 30-40 runs”. The match will also be available on respective HD channels as well.

“He’s a world class player”. And if he is not able to play, Chris Woakes will be the man to replace him.

Live Streaming: Live Streaming will be available in India on Hotstar.