India eye series win with England desperate to stay afloat

With a series win in sight, Team India will possibly be going out all guns blazing at Ranchi in continuation of a series that has been riddled with twists and turns.

Similarly, keeping in mind all the possible windings, the hosts will be desperate to keep their feet on the pedal. It has been an ecstatic batting display from Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored two back-to-back double centuries while he has had support from the senior campaigners of the side as well, thereby underlining India’s dominance in the series.

England, on the contrary, had a brilliant start to the series after a fine show from Ollie Pope but barring isolated displays, it has just been frustrating for the Three Lions and they will have to do much better than what they are doing right now in order to keep the series alive.

India will be without KL Rahul, who has been ruled out due to an injury while Jasprit Bumrah has also been rested. In the absence of Bumrah, England will possibly be facing a lighter bowling attack but it also means the bowling charge will be spearheaded by Mohammed Siraj in all likelihood, who wreaked havoc in South Africa. With all these personal rivalries coming in, this is going to be an electric contest of two juggernauts in the whites who can define the game to its peak.

Venue Watch:

Not too many Tests have been played at Ranchi. As per numbers, a total of two matches in the whites have been played so far out of which one has been won batting first. The average first innings score is 474 while the average second innings score drops down to 382. As the game progresses, the surface will be a lot more bowling friendly, particularly with the spinners being a major talking factor.

Head to Head

Matches played: 134

India – 33

England - 51

Match Details:

Match – India vs England

Venue: JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi

Date: 23rd February, 2024

Time: 9:30 AM

Squads:

India:  Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.

England: Ben Stokes (captain), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Shoaib Bashir, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood.