India have made four changes to their starting XI for the Rajkot Test match against England, including bringing in two debutants for the third Test of the series.
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Two debutants for India
Rohit Sharma won the toss for the second match in succession and chose to bat first. Following the toss, he announced that both Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan would make their Test debuts. Sarfaraz comes in for Shreyas Iyer, who was dropped after a run of low scores in the first two Tests of the series, while Jurel comes in for wicketkeeper Srikar Bharat.
While Jurel has been part of the India squad for the entire series to date, Sarfaraz was added to the squad for the second Test as batting cover after KL Rahul suffered a quadricep injury. While his success on the India domestic circuit has seen calls for an international call up for sometime, he was selected off the back of an explosive 161 for India A against England Lions last month.
🚨India win the toss and bat first in Rajkot🚨
Four changes for India including two debutants:
✅ Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj,
❌ Mukesh Kumar, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/cFev7r5wpY— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) February 15, 2024
Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj back
Ravindra Jadeja also returns for the hosts, replacing Axar Patel in the XI. Jadeja missed the second Test with a hamstring injury he sustained in the first match of the series. Mohammed Siraj also comes back into the side after missing the second Test match, with both sides opting to play two seamers on a surface already featuring several cracks.
Rahul is still absent from the starting lineup, having failed to recover from his injury in time for the match.
England, who announced their team the day before the start of the Test, have made one change to their XI. Mark Wood has come back into the side for Shoaib Bashir, who made his Test debut in Vizag.
India, England playing XIs for third Test
India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson.
