The 4-match Test series between India and England resumes on Wednesday (Feb 24) after a week-long gap. The first two Test matches were concluded with each team winning a match apiece. England won the first Test match by 227 runs and India bettered the winning margin in the second Test as they won it by 317 runs!
In the wake of the ongoing pandemic, both the first Tests of this series were played in Chennai. The remaining two Tests in the series will be played at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. The third Test will be a Day-Night affair while the final Test match will be a Day game.
With series 1-1 level, both teams have their chances alive to make it to the ICC World Test Championship Final. New Zealand have already qualified for the Final. If India can win the series from here, they will qualify for the Final while England need to win both the remaining Test matches in the series! In any other scenario, Australia will be able to qualify for the Final. Going into these final two Tests, the battle is going to be intense with a place in the World Test Championship Final is up for grabs!
Let us look at how India and England fared in Day-Night (D/N) Tests ahead of the third Test in Ahmedabad.
India in Day-Night Tests: Played – 2, Won – 1, Lost – 1
Even though the first-ever D/N Test match was played between Australia and New Zealand as early as 2015, India played their first D/N match in 2019 – against a weak Bangladesh side at Eden Gardens. Without any doubt, they thumped Bangladesh by an innings margin!
However, their second D/N Test match was against Australia in Adelaide last year. Courtesy of a superb spell from Josh Hazlewood, India were bundled out for just 36 runs in their second innings losing the Test match by 8 wickets!
England in Day-Night Tests: Played – 3, Won – 1, Lost – 2
Like India, England too won their home Test while losing both their overseas D/N Tests up until now! Their victory was against West Indies in Birmingham in the year 2017 which they won by a mammoth margin of an innings and 209 runs.
England have played their overseas D/N Test matches at Adelaide Oval (lost by 120 runs) and in Auckland (lost by an inns & 49 runs). Both ended up in heart breaks for them! Though they had the chance to win the Adelaide Test, they failed to chase down a target of 354 runs!
Opinion:
Even though India won the home D/N Test against Bangladesh, their total of 36 all-out in Adelaide will surely haunt them in the upcoming third Test match against England! On the other hand, England are still recovering from the heavy loss in the second Test match. The fact that both have good pace attacks will surely make them fancy their chances of winning this Test match – the return of Jasprit Bumrah and James Anderson will strengthen their sides!
India failed to gain on the home conditions in the first Test while they recovered well in the second Test match to level the series. Taking the media interactions in the past one week, one can expect a pitch that will help India take the series lead! Keeping all these factors in mind, India have more chances of winning the third Test match against England.
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