It is Advantage Team India

Well, Team India is 2-1 down, but the dominant mood is that they possess the upper hand at the moment, or have the momentum as the experts would say! But Team India needs to be cautious and would know that England would come back hard at them. After all it is their backyard, and a lot of pride is attached to playing infront of your own crowds; well almost.. many in the field are actually supporting Team India in large numbers, thanks to the large Indian diaspora in England.

This test match will be a closely fought one, and neither side would like to relent. England would like to ensure they shut out the Indian resurgence and Team India will be hoping to emulate themselves from the last test, and the great Sir Don Bradman's Team from 1936-37. (No team has been 2-0 down in a test series against England and won it from there) I am sure that is not playing on anyone's mind from either sides though. Just a small trivia from sports columnists.

So much conjecturing about England's team composition, and whether James Vince is worthy of playing ahead of the favoured and dependable Bairstow. Well in the end, Ollie Pope made way for Moeen Ali, and Sam Curran comes in for a slightly injured Woakes. Well for that matter, Bairstow was also injured, and perhaps will only bat. 

Instead everybody is wondering what would Kohli decide, and who would the Indian Team Management pick for the 4th Test. Kohli loves tinkering with his Test side, and has made changes in each of the Tests he has been Captain. There are some interesting choices in Prithvi Shaw, Karun Nair and Hanuma Vihari. Neither might make the cut, for this test atleast. Maybe for the dead rubber (if India lose this one), but otherwise Ravi Shastri and Kohli might not experiment in here. The only scare is Ashwin, and if he cannot bowl, then Jadeja should get a look-in. I am not such a big fan of an all pace attack, although pace bowlers have bowled with a lot of skill and heart. English batsmen have always had a weakness for spin, and even Jadeja, correction..Sir Jadeja is very effective if not deadly. 

All the best to both the teams, India would like to think they are the favorites walking into the ground, but England might have a better resolve this time around in not giving away an easy victory. The No. 1 Test side will need to stand up and deliver, otherwise the horror show from the first two tests might get replayed. Team India (especially the openers) need to guard against complacency.