3rd Test: Sarfaraz, Dhruv handed debut Test caps as India win toss, elect to bat first against England

Rajkot: Youngsters Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel were handed their debut Test caps as India won the toss and elected to bat first against England in the third Test at the Niranjan Shah Stadium here on Thursday.

The five-match Test series is currently tied at 1-1.

Sarfaraz and Jurel, the two debutants who recently made runs for India ‘A’ in the series against England Lions in Ahmedabad, come into the playing eleven in place of Shreyas Iyer and KS Bharat respectively.

While legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble gave Sarfaraz his Test cap, with his father-cum-coach Naushad Khan being teary-eyed in the background, veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik handed Jurel his Test cap.

Ravindra Jadeja, who missed the second Test due to a hamstring injury, comes back for Axar Patel, while Mohammed Siraj comes into the playing eleven in place of Mukesh Kumar. BCCI said Mukesh has been released from the Test squad and will join his domestic team Bengal for their Ranji Trophy match against Bihar, starting on February 16 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

“Good pitch, better than the last two ones we played in. We know Rajkot is supposed to be a good pitch, will behave differently as the game goes on. Good toss to win. We played well as a group. Guys stood up when they had to last game.”

“The next three games will be as exciting as the first two. You can’t keep the bigger picture in mind. We’ll have to keep focus on what we can do here and come out on top,” said captain Rohit Sharma after winning the toss.

On the other hand, England have moved away from their three spinners and one fast-bowler combination by including pacer Mark Wood in place of off-spinner Shoaib Bashir. The Rajkot Test will see England skipper Ben Stokes play his 100th Test match, becoming the 16th cricketer from his country to achieve the monumental feat.

“We’d have batted too, that’s what you do in India. Time does fly when you’re having fun. Series in nicely balanced, it’s a fair reflection of both teams. We’re happy with how things have gone. It’s been a nice break which helped us refresh.”

‘There was no cricket, we got the families out in Dubai. Cricket can be physically and mentally demanding, so it was a great opportunity to get away from cricket and get the feet up. The great thing about Test matches is there are so many moments where things can change and India came out on top,” he said.

Playing XIs

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Foakes (wicketkeeper), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood and James Anderson

–IANS