England can go for wounded India's jugular – if they learn from second Test errors

KL Rahul will miss the third Test between India and England – Getty Images/Noah Seelam

For all the talk of being willing to lose in order to win, this is the time for England to not let India wriggle free again.

With Virat Kohli out of the series and KL Rahul failing a fitness test, India are still severely weakened. They could well have two middle order players – Rajat Patidar and uncapped Sarfaraz Khan –  with only one Test appearance between them.

Shreyas Iyer has been dropped and of the remaining top six, only captain Rohit Sharma has significant Test match experience and he is out of form.

Shubman Gill restored some confidence with a second innings hundred in the second Test and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s double century set up victory but England were still in the running for most of the match, making the second highest fourth innings total in India by a visiting team. Even chasing 399, there was a nagging feeling they had let it slip, which is a reflection of their Bazball prowess even when up against the artistry of Jasprit Bumrah.

Jasprit Bumrah (left) was the difference between England and India in the last Test – Getty Images/Dibyangshu Sarkar

Wood poised for Test return

England will never admit it, but they made a mistake in picking only one seamer for the first two Tests and will rebalance their attack here with Mark Wood in the final 12 and likely to replace either Shoaib Bashir or Rehan Ahmed, if he is available after his single entry visa error. England cannot blame Indian fussiness this time. It was their mistake, pure and simple.

Two seamers gives England more bite with the new ball and further options if it reverses later. Stokes denied the decision was driven by countering Jaiswal but he was almost out caught down the leg side when bounced by Wood in the first Test and struggled against pace in South Africa last month.

Of course the problem for England is making a big score against the genius of Bumrah. He is the matchwinner, and after a week’s rest should be ready to go again, although there are suggestions he is not happy after being promised he could rest for the third Test. That would make no sense for India after his nine wickets in Visakhapatnam and the hold he has over Joe Root.

Ravi Ashwin is on 499 wickets and started to rile England on the field in Visakhapatnam but they have coped well with him so far, he is going at 4 an over in this series for the first time in his career.

For England to have a chance of controlling this Test they need a batsman to make a score and it seems inconceivable they can win the series without Root finding his touch. Eight years ago in Rajkot, three England batsmen scored hundreds in a first innings of 537, including Stokes himself. England’s wins in India are built on big innings – think of Kevin Pietersen and Cook at Mumbai in 2012, Root in Chennai in 2020 and Ollie Pope a couple of weeks ago in Hyderabad.

The risk with Bazball is that in the pursuit of domination, England will give it away as they did in the first innings in Vizag when a flying Zak Crawley slogged a catch in the air on 76 and his team 114 for one having restricted India to below 400 on a belting pitch, their young spinners doing an admirable job in giving control. England spent their week off in Abu Dhabi with family and did not train once, but perhaps had time to reflect on chances missed. It turned out Crawley’s 76 would be their highest score of the Test. It is not going to win games on flat pitches.

But if it all comes together and Crawley, Pope and Ben Duckett have all shown form so far, Rajkot is the kind of pitch where Rohit could learn how it felt to be Pat Cummins at Old Trafford when England were in one of those moods and the ball flew to all parts.

Stokes to earn 100th Test cap

In his 100th Test Stokes will need to call on all his tactical nous to make things happen when it is flat. England have taken 40 wickets in this series so far and only in two Tests of the Bazball era have they not taken all 20 in a match (when they lost by an innings to South Africa and when Ireland were down to 10 fit players in their second innings at Lord’s).

Stokes will be willing to gamble going 2-1 down with two Tests to play in the pursuit of going 2-1 up. The third Test match could well be like Rawalpindi in December last year when Stokes should have won man-of-the-match for his captaincy alone. He and Brendon McCullum inspired his players to score 506 on day one and then dictated the pace of the rest of the game, giving themselves enough time to win in the final moments of day five.

England scored at seven an over throughout the Test and Stokes declared his second innings at tea on day four giving Pakistan a real sniff, setting a target of 343 in four sessions on a pitch that had already produced more than 1,500 runs.

Contrast that to Rajkot eight years ago when England left themselves too little time to win, preferring to ensure they did not lose first. Alastair Cook set India 350 in a minimum of 49 overs and England batted at 3.44 an over in setting up the declaration. That was the perceived way of playing on Asian flat pitches then. Stokes has changed that.

Stokes has no interest in milestones – just winning. It means there will be no sentimental guff from him about playing his 100th Test. “It’s just a number,” he said. Victory number 15 of his captaincy career is what he cares about. It would have him closing in on Nasser Hussain (17 from 45 games) and Mike Brearley (18 from 31). Not that he would know, or care about those statistics.

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