In Rajkot, Rohit Sharma chose to bat first after winning the toss. Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja return to the side, as Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan make their debuts. Mark Wood took over for Shoaib Bashir as the lone change for England going into the game.

At the end of Day 3, India’s total stood at 196/2, with a commanding lead of 322 thanks to the unbeaten crease performances of Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav. In the last session, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s incredible century stole the game away from England.

Earlier on Thursday night, Ravichandran Ashwin’s sudden withdrawal from the Test squad due to a family emergency sent the Indian team’s plans and methods into disarray.

When Ashwin took Zak Crawley for his 500th Test wicket on Day 2, he had led India’s bowling attack. In the longest format, he became the second Indian player to take 500 wickets with that same action. Meanwhile, Mohammed Siraj cheaply returned Ollie Pope, and England now trails India by 238 runs.