India go into the third Test against England here today facing their greatest challenge in recent times. It’s because they have a very raw batting line-up in the absence of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. Only skipper Rohit Sharma with 56 Tests and Shubman Gill with 22 have substantial experience. Considering England skipper Ben Stokes is set to play his 100th Test and Joe Root already has over 100 caps, the difference in numbers is huge. But that does not mean England start favourites. Though they had won the first Test after a great comeback, the home team with their experienced bowling unit will be favourites.

In the absence of Kohli and Rahul, India will be forced to play at least one debutant, if not two. There is a strong possibility that Mumbaikar Sarfaraz Khan may finally get the chance to represent India in Test cricket after scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket. He also struck a huge hundred recently against England Lions in Ahmedabad. He needs to score some big runs in international cricket immediately as he may not get too many chances once the stalwarts return.