Unchanged India bat against England in third Test

India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat as his unchanged side faced England in the third Test at Headingley on Wednesday.

Kohli's men are 1-0 up in the five-match series after an impressive 151-run victory in the second Test at Lord's and the star batsman had said Tuesday "you don't want to disturb a winning side".

Ravichandran Ashwin remained on the sidelines, with the off-spinner yet to feature this series after being left out of both the rain-marred drawn first Test at Trent Bridge as well as at Lord's.

Meanwhile, England fast bowler Craig Overton returned to Test side for the first time in two years as he saw off a challenge from the uncapped Saqib Mahmoood for the last place in the hosts' team.

The Somerset paceman last played Test cricket during the 2019 Ashes but has been recalled in place of the injured Mark Wood, with the Durham quick joining a growing list of sidelined England bowlers that includes Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone, with star all-rounder Ben Stokes currently out of action while he takes a break for mental health issues.

There was also a recall for batsman Dawid Malan at number three on his Yorkshire home ground, with Haseeb Hameed promoted to open in place of the dropped Dom Sibley.

Teams

England: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (capt), Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson

India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (ENG), Alex Wharf (ENG)

TV umpire: Richard Illingworth (ENG)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

© 2021 AFP