Pink Ball Test: England’s WTC hopes grasp by a thread in opposition to India awaits

England should register their first win in a pink-ball Test overseas if they’re to maintain their hopes alive of qualifying for this yr’s World Test Championship closing after they face-off in opposition to India on the world’s largest cricket stadium from Wednesday.
New Zealand have already booked their spot for the inaugural WTC closing to be held at Lord’s later this yr, leaving India, England and Australia vying for the opposite.
The four-Test sequence between India and England is presently tied at 1-1 on the midway stage and Joe Root’s males might want to win the remaining matches to qualify. The job seems a tad less complicated for Virat Kohli’s facet, with the hosts needing to win a minimum of one Test and keep away from defeat within the different.
Australia’s cancelled journey to South Africa implies that Tim Paine’s facet are depending on India and England and would wish a drawn sequence or a 2-1 win in favour of the touring facet to arrange a WTC closing conflict in opposition to their trans-Tasman rivals.
England have barely extra expertise of enjoying day-night Tests than their hosts however would not have an exemplary report outdoors their house comforts.
They beat West Indies at Birmingham however misplaced in Adelaide and Auckland and the Feb. 24-28 Test underneath floodlights at Ahmedabad’s Motera Stadium will probably be their fourth outing. The refurbished stadium, with a capability of 110,000, has displaced the Melbourne Cricket Ground because the world’s largest for cricket and would be the venue for the remaining Tests.
Local authorities have allowed 50% capability for the day-night match – solely the second in India after the one in opposition to neighbouring Bangladesh at Eden Garden in Kolkata in 2019.
Seamer James Anderson, England’s most prolific bowler, mentioned he felt the pink ball swung a bit extra within the air throughout observe than the normal crimson one.”We’ve acquired a bit of little bit of expertise with the pink ball however that is simply the second Test in India, the primary one in February as nicely so we don’t understand how it will behave,” the 38-year-old informed reporters.”
The bowlers who get the ball of their hand come the Test match will probably be hopeful of it doing one thing and we’ll be hopeful that that provides us a bit of little bit of an edge. “Obviously, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed if I do play and we bowl first, I’ll be hoping it does a little bit.”
The hosts may even obtain a lift with the return of rested tempo spearhead Jasprit Bumrah whereas senior quick bowler Ishant Sharma is anticipated to play his one centesimal Test match throughout the day-night affair.
FACTBOX
WHEN?
Feb. 24-28 (1430 native/0900 GMT) WHERE?
Motera Stadium, Ahmedabad (55,000 restricted capability) MATCH OFFICIALS (all Indian)
Umpires: Nitin Menon, Anil Chaudhary Third umpire: C Shamshuddin
Match referee: Javagal Srinath
INDIA
World rating: 2
Coach: Ravi Shastri
Captain: Virat Kohli
Squad: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
ENGLAND
World rating: 4
Coach: Chris Silverwood
Captain: Joe Root
Squad: Joe Root, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
PREVIOUS AHMEDABAD TESTS
2012- India received by 9 wickets
2001- Match drawn
SERIES RESULTS
First Test (Chennai): England received by 227 runs
Second Test (Chennai): India received by 317 runs