England skipper Ben Stokes rates Rajkot strip for third Test highly; believes bringing in extra seamer in Mark Wood will be key to their chances of victory
England skipper Ben Stokes (left) and coach Brendon McCullum check the strip in Rajkot yesterday. Pic/AFP; (right) England’s Mark Wood during a net session in Rajkot on Tuesday. Pic/Getty Images
India head coach Rahul Dravid spent 25 minutes studying the pitch here on Wednesday morning before his team’s training session. England coach Brendon McCullum walked towards the pitch with selector Luke Wright and performance analyst Rupert Lewis, had a look at it and then summoned captain Ben Stokes. The four of them, after looking at the surface for only about seven minutes, went back to the change room to finalise the playing XI.
For the first time in this series, they will play with two seamers. Mark Wood coming in for off-spinner Shoaib Bashir is the only change to the XI that lost the second Test.
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Flat deck in 2016
Stokes told the media on Wednesday: “Taking a bit of the knowledge from the last Test we played here a long time ago [November 2016], it was a pretty flat wicket. Today [Wednesday], it looks a good wicket. Bringing in an extra seamer is what we think is going to give us the best chance to win.”
In that 2016 Test, Stokes was one of four Englishmen to score a century (128). “That was eight years ago. If I can take form from eight years ago, then a lot has gone wrong in those eight years. It’ll be nice to get another 100 here, but I don’t think I can take too much from a game eight years ago,” said Stokes.
Stokes, who will be appearing in his 100th Test on Thursday, downplayed the milestone, saying: “Milestones are just how they are.”
Stokes said his team have the wherewithal to tackle India’s best bowler in the series, Jasprit Bumrah, who is the highest wicket-taker with 15 scalps.
‘Bumrah’s outstanding’
“Jasprit is an unbelievable bowler. He’s proved that for a very long time. Everyone has got their own way of trying to deal with Jasprit, but we do have to score runs off him as well. When that doesn’t work, we have to say well done to the bowler. Jasprit has been outstanding in both games. We have our own process against every single bowler.”
The 32-year-old Stokes also wished that Kohli returned to the game at the earliest. “Virat not being here, I don’t like it being used as a benefit to us or a disadvantage to India. Obviously, there are specific reasons why he is not playing this series and it should be just left at that as opposed to an advantage or disadvantage to any side. I wish Virat well. You want your best players playing. Virat is one of those and hopefully we see him back on the cricket field very soon,”
he said.
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