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Youngsters Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel received their debut Test caps as India won the toss and chose to bat first against England in the third Test at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Thursday.
The five-match Test series is currently level at 1-1.
Sarfaraz and Jurel, who recently showcased their batting prowess for India ‘A’ against England Lions in Ahmedabad, replace Shreyas Iyer and KS Bharat in the playing eleven.
Legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble presented Sarfaraz with his Test cap, while Dinesh Karthik handed Jurel his cap. Ravindra Jadeja, recovering from a hamstring injury, returns for Axar Patel, and Mohammed Siraj takes Mukesh Kumar’s place. Mukesh has been released to join his domestic team Bengal for their Ranji Trophy match against Bihar starting on February 16 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
“Good pitch, better than the last two we played on. We know Rajkot is supposed to be a good pitch, behaving differently as the game goes on. Good toss to win. We played well as a group. Guys stood up when they had to last game.”
“The next three games will be as exciting as the first two. You can’t keep the bigger picture in mind. We’ll have to keep focus on what we can do here and come out on top,” said captain Rohit Sharma after winning the toss.
On the other hand, England included pacer Mark Wood in place of off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, moving away from their three-spinner and one fast-bowler combination. England skipper Ben Stokes plays his 100th Test match, becoming the 16th cricketer from his country to achieve this milestone.
“We’d have batted too, that’s what you do in India. Time does fly when you’re having fun. The series is nicely balanced, it’s a fair reflection of both teams. We’re happy with how things have gone. It’s been a nice break which helped us refresh.”
‘There was no cricket; we got the families out in Dubai. Cricket can be physically and mentally demanding, so it was a great opportunity to get away from cricket and get the feet up. The great thing about Test matches is there are so many moments where things can change, and India came out on top,” he said.
Playing XIs: India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Foakes (wicketkeeper), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, and James Anderson
-IANS
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