Mark Wood returns in place of Shoaib Bashir for third Test at Rajkot،
Mark Wood was recalled to the England attack at the expense of offside Shoaib Bashir, as England confirmed their squad for the third Test against India, which begins on Thursday in Rajkot.
Wood played as a lone seamer in England's victory in the first Test in Hyderabad, but went wicketless on a surface that did not suit his express pace. However, he was recalled to partner James Anderson, who impressed with five wickets in Visakhapatnam last week, on a surface that had been tinted greener before the match.
He is the only change in the starting XI, with Bashir missing after taking four wickets on debut in the second Test. It means England will face two seamers for the first time in the series, having fielded a spin-dominant attack in each of the last two matches.
Rehan Ahmed's participation in this match was in doubt after he faced visa issues on his return to India following the team's mid-series break in Abu Dhabi. However, this issue has been resolved.
Stokes confirmed England had no doubt that Rehan's documents would be cleared in time for the third Test, and backed the 19-year-old to pick up where he left off in the first two .
“It's always an anxious time, but luckily we got over it this morning. First of all, the guys at the airport did a great job getting him his visa at the start so he could pass and then to everyone at BCCI and government to get their visa.the visa is issued quickly and we don't have to worry about these problems anymore.
“We were very confident that we would get the visa for Rehan before the match started. We had no idea about not playing him this week. The good thing about youngsters is that they take everything calmly and I thought he handled a situation that could have affected a lot of people very, very well in a different way for such a young child.
“The test matches he has played so far, he has done very, very well and everything we have asked of him, he has tried to do. I can't wait for him to play another match this week.”
After going into Wednesday with 12 names, Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum chose the extra seamer in Wood after a final look at the field. They were influenced by cracks in the field which they believe will cause uneven bounces as the test progresses.
Otherwise, they expect a surface not much different from the one that resulted in a draw in the 2016 series.
“I know it was a long time ago when we played here, but it looks like a good wicket,” Stokes said. “Yesterday it looked quite English. It's a little different today. We didn't really know what we were going to do with the team, but today we realized that we were definitely going to go with two seamstresses.
“It just looks like a good wicket. It's a little flat. Over the course of five days, those plates might get a little but uneven. There might be a reverse move that brings Woody into the game – and Jimmy too.”
England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Ben Stokes (captain), 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Rehan Ahmed, 9 Tom Hartley, 10 Mark Wood, 11 James Anderson
