England v India
India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni (L) and Shikhar Dhawan look at England's James Anderson (R) after India won the second cricket test match at Lord's. Reuters

England and India face each other in the third Test of the five-match series at the Rose Bowl, Southampton, beginning on Sunday.

Where to Watch Live

The play is set to commence at 11am BST. Live coverage is on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports 2 HD. Live text updates of the game will be available on ESPN cricinfo. Click here for the live streaming link.

Overview

India come into the third test in a buoyant mood after a morale boosting 95-run victory over England in the second test at Lord's. India now lead the five-match series 1-0.

This victory over England is India's first away test victory in 15 attempts, and it was a bowling inspired one, with Ishant Sharma leading the charge with seven wickets in the second innings.

However, everything is not rosy for India going into the third test, albeit with a victory under their belts. It has to be noted that India's top order has failed to fire consistently, apart from Murali Vijay, who has been the only top order batsman to get the runs.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be aware of an alarming stat, which has India's bowling spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar scoring more runs than Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and even Cheteshwar Pujara in the two tests they have played.

Duncan Fletcher and the captain, will have another dilemma to deal with come matchday, and that is whether or not to include frontline spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been left-out until now with Ravindra Jadeja holding the mantel of the sole spinner in the team.

Alistair Cook
Reuters

Meanwhile, England come into this match under a lot pressure after surrendering meekly to India in the second test at Lord's. England were criticised for their performance with the bat. After being 173-5 at lunch, they were all out for 223 before tea.

Skipper Alistair Cook came in for some heavy criticism, with quite a few pundits and former players calling for him to step down as captain of the side.

However, when the England Cricket Board (ECB) released its statement, there were no surprises, with just one change to the team that lost the second test. Cook was retained as skipper of the team, but Matt Prior has made way for England limited-overs wicket-keeper Jos Buttler. The 23-year-old keeper will look to take this opportunity to make his place permanent in both the limited overs and longer format of the game.

The England bowlers have performed much better than the batsmen, and England will hope that they can put on a better show to level the five-match series.

Apart from the Cricket, there was an on-field altercation between James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja in the first test, which has now been resolved. Both the players were charged with misconduct by the match referee. Jadeja has been fined 50% of his match fee after being found guilty of a Level 1 breach of the ICC code of conduct. James Anderson's hearing will be held via video conferencing on August 1, one day after the third test concludes.

England v India
India's Ravindra Jadeja (L) shakes hands with England's James Anderson after India won the second cricket test match at Lord's cricket ground. Reuters

Betting Odds (888sport.com)

  • England - 17/11
  • Draw - 17/10
  • India – 12/5

Specials: Alistair Cook to NOT score over 50 runs vs India in the Third Test (Combined scores for both innings) – EVENS

Top Batsman in the Third Test

Murali Vijay – 8/1

Virat Kohli – 8/1

Cheteshwar Pujara – 17/2

Alastair Cook – 9/1

Ian Bell – 9/1

Top Bowler in the Third Test

James Anderson – 6/1

Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 13/2

Stuart Broad – 7/1

Ishant Sharma – 15/2

Mohammed Shami – 17/2

England

Probable Lineup: Alastair Cook (c), Sam Robson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Simon Kerrigan, Jos Buttler (wk), Stuart Broad, Liam Plunkett, James Anderson

India

Probable Lineup: Murali Vijay, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Stuart Binny, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar