India v England, third Test LIVE – Tourists look to bounce back in Rajkot as Ben Stokes hits landmark

Anderson strikes Gill on the pad early in the over and there’s an appeal, but it didn’t look right at all Stokes shakes his head, indicating he thinks there was an inside edge. Replays suggest that the 100-Test man was absolutely right.

Anderson continues and draws another inside edge off the bat of Gill that crashes into the knee-roll. It’s lovely bowling right now from England’s pace duo, as they look to take advantage of this small new-ball window before the ball gets soft.

Yashasvi Jaiswal caught by Joe Root bowled Mark Wood for 10 (10b)

England are jubilant! India’s openers looked so comfortable in these opening overs, but a rising delivery in the channel from Wood lures Jaiswal into a prod off the back foot and he edges it through to the cordon where Root holds onto the catch.

That was a really lovely delivery, just short of a length and rising at decent pace to force the error from the batter.

Rohit had started the over with a flick off the pads for four to keep the runs flowing, but that breakthrough is a massive boon for England.

Another lovely shot from Jaiswal, driven back down the ground to the rope at long-off, keeps the runs flowing for India as Anderson continues.

Those are the only runs to come from the over.

Wood takes the new ball from the other end and starts with some decent pace.

But India make it through the over relatively comfortably, with Rohit’s wonderful drive to the long-on boundary helping take seven runs off the over.

It’s an attacking early field from England with plenty of slip fielders for this new-ball spell.

Anderson takes the new ball and Jaiswal dispatches a really decent first delivery to the boundary with an absolute peach of a straight drive. That ball would have troubled many batters, but it’s a wonderful shot and India will hope it’s a sign of things to come.

A rare Anderson no-ball makes it a seven-ball over, but there’s a hint of movement and Anderson beats the edge of Rohit late in the over with a beauty.

There’s a hint of haze in the air, but it’s bright and warm and feels like a day that could be perfect for batting.

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We already knew that England were switching their bowling balance by bringing in Mark Wood for Shoaib Bashir, and of course Jack Leach and Harry Brook are not in India for fitness and personal reasons respectively.

But India have switched things up, partly for enforced reasons. Virat Kohli won’t play in the series for personal reasons, something that Ben Stokes talked about during his press conference yesterday.

Shreyas Iyer has been dropped and KL Rahul isn’t quite ready to be an option in the middle order, so Rajat Patidar moves up to four in his second Test and Sarfaraz Khan, who has an extraordinary domestic record, comes in at five.

Ravindra Jadeja returns for Axar Patel, which is a huge boost for India, and Mohammed Siraj unsurprisingly comes back in as the second seamer at the expense of Mukesh Kumar.

And there’s also a slight surprise with a change at wicketkeeper, where Dhruv Jurel comes in for KS Bharat to make a Test debut.

The first big act of the match came a few minutes ago out in the middle in Rajkot, where Rohit Sharma won the toss and unsurprisingly opted to bat first on a pitch that most expect to be the best for the batters in this series.

India have had big first innings leads in both of the first two matches of this series, and they have the ideal platform to put on a mountain of runs here and put some miles into the legs of England’s bowling attack. It’s going to be a big test for the tourists.

The wait is over and this fascinating series is minutes away from continuing with the start of the third Test.

It’s almost enough to give you a pep in the step… although that might also be the early morning coffee.

It’s going to be a fascinating match in Rajkot at a ground that is hosting just its third ever men’s Test.

Mark Wood has been recalled by England in the only change from their defeat last time out. He has replaced Shoaib Bashir for the clash in Rajkot.

Speaking about his decision to bring Wood into the side, Stokes said: “Taking a bit of knowledge from the last Test match we played here, albeit a long time ago, it was a pretty true, flat wicket.

“Looking at it today, it looks a bit platey but I think it’s a good wicket.

“Bringing in an extra seamer this week is the option we’ve gone with because we think it’s going to give us the best chance of winning.”

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