Indian cricket team vice-captain Rishabh Pant dropped a massive hint about the team combination for the third Test encounter against England at Lord's. India went with just one spinner - Ravindra Jadeja - in the first Test before adding Washington Sundar to the mix for the second Test match. The team management also made a big change at Edgbaston as they included Nitish Kumar Reddy in place of Shardul Thakur. Some more changes are expected for the Test match at Lord's with Jasprit Bumrah potentially coming back in the side. Pant did not reveal much about what the team will look like for the third Test match but made it clear that there were three pacers with one or two spinners in the mix.
“Options are still open, discussions still going on. Sometimes wicket changes colour in two days. We will take the call. Whether it will be 3+1 or 3+2,” Pant said at the pre-match press conference.
With the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy perfectly poised at 1-1 heading into the third match of the series t at the mecca of cricket, the Lord's, England skipper Ben Stokes claimed his side will be aiming to hit India hard in the five-day Test that begins on July 10.
Stokes admitted that, given the standard of quality the two teams possess, he expected the series to be a balanced encounter with both sides facing ups and downs.
"This was always going to be a series (in) which moments ebb and flow, the results were going to ebb and flow because there are two very good teams going at each other.
"We came out on top at Headingley, and they came out on top in the last game. When you have two good sides going at it against each other, you are going to see that. I don't think we feel like we have the edge over anyone. We respect our opposition, whoever that may be. We'll be coming out this week, trying to hit them hard and obviously trying to come away with a win,” said Stokes in the pre-game conference.
(With IANS inputs)