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Mark Wood is expected to reclaim his spot in the
starting XI on the green-tinged Rajkot ground as England has reduced their
squad for the third Test to just 12.
In each of the first two Test matches, the tourists
have only used one seamer: Wood was selected for the first game in Hyderabad
and James Anderson was substituted for him in Visakhapatnam. For the first time
in this series, England will bat with two quicks, substituting one of the three
spinners from the second Test if they determine the circumstances will be more
suited to seaming.
Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, who made his debut in
Vizag, is probably the one, so Rehan Ahmed, who became the most recent England
player to experience visa problems, will stay in his spot.
Rehan was detained at Rajkot airport when England
returned to India from their mid-series break in Abu Dhabi due to his single
entry visa, unlike Bashir’s situation when his visa was issued late and thus
missed the first Test. Rehan and Bashir are both of Pakistani descent and were
born in the United Kingdom.
Local authorities came up with a temporary fix, and
the ECB is optimistic that its oversight will be fixed within the next day or
two, allowing Rehan to play in Rajkot. On Tuesday morning, he and the other
members of the touring team practiced for the first time at the Niranjan Shah
Stadium. Ben Stokes strongly implied in his post-match remarks that the issue
would not impact the third Test’s preparations, which get underway on Thursday.
Of the three spinners, Bashir appears to be the most
likely to miss out, though that has not been decided. Tom Hartley, a left-arm
spinner, has taken the most wickets for the squad with 14, seven of which came
during the second innings of England’s maiden Test triumph. In the order, he
has also contributed 114 helpful runs.
With eight wickets at a rate of 36.37, Rehan’s legspin
has also been a significant factor against India’s batting lineup. Similar to
Hartley, he contributes something with the bat and deflects the ball away from
their abundance of right-handers.
With Joe Root able to provide the offspin, Stokes will
have a variety of options at his disposal, along with Wood’s extra pace. Though
the he went wicketless in the first Test, Wood had his moments, and Stokes
believes he could have more of an impact with Anderson alongside him.
“The reasons why we would look at Jimmy and Woody
would be I just like to have a point of difference,” he said. “And
India is never a three-seamer option.
“Obviously having Woody’s high pace, and if we
were to go with two seamers again, it would give a bit more rest to Woody as he
was that sole seamer in the first Test. So managing his workload. If we were to
go with two seamers, we might be able to get a bit more versatility and use
Woody how we want to use him out here and not worry he’s the only seamer.”