The four-match Test series between India and England is evenly poised after the two teams shared the honours in Chennai. England won the series opener by 227 runs, India hit back with a 317-run victory in the second outing at The Chepauk.
Now the focus shifts to Ahmedabad. The refurbished Motera Stadium, which is now the world's biggest cricket stadium, will host both the third and fourth Test matches. The third match, starting February 24 has an extra dimension as it will be a Day-Night match. This will be India's third overall and second pink-ball match at home.
Then there are ICC World Test Championship points to fight for too. New Zealand have already qualified for the Lord's final. And as things stand, three teams -- India, England and Australia -- can qualify.
India need to win the series at least by a margin of 2-1. So they can still afford to draw one and win another. For England, they need to win both the remaining matches. And if the series is drawn or England win 2-1, then Australia qualify.
Check match and telecast details:
Match: 3rd Test cricket match between India and England
Date: From February 24 (Wednesday) to 28 (Sunday), 2021
Time: 2:30 PM IST/ 09:00 AM GMT
Venue: Sardar Patel Stadium (Motera), Ahmedabad, India
TV Channels: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar (Subscription required)
Weather: Likely to be hot and sunny on all five days.
Pitch: On Monday, England pacer James Anderson revealed that the pitch, "has got grass on it", but he claimed that "it's not going to be there" when the players "turn up on the match day." In fact, Rohit Sharma had previously said that "Every team takes advantage of their home conditions" so, expect a turner even for the day-nighter.
Likely XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.
England: Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes (wk), Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Jack Leach, James Anderson.
Playing XIs in the last match:
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohl (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj.
England: Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Daniel Lawrence, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes (wk), Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, Olly Stone:
Third Test Squads
India: Virat Kohli (Captain), 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, Shardul Thakur.
Reserves: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, Krishnappa Gowtham, Saurabh Kumar, KS Bharat, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar, Priyank Panchal.
England: Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, James Anderson, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes.
Reserves: James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Amar Virdi.
