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Admirable as the work of the International Cricket Council’s anti-gambling squad may be, the reported intention to expunge transgressors names from the record books is not one of the more illuminating suggestions.It is to be hoped that other recommendations put before the ICC from Sir Paul Condon and his investigation team are more realistic than this foolhardy notion of retrospectively rewriting cricket history.There is no doubt that physically chipping the players from their place among the all-time playing records would be a suitable punishment if cricket were a game for individuals.It’s not, and therein lies the fault in the suggested disincentive to future violators of the game.Match-fixing has been a blight on cricket. It has gone against everything that cricket is supposed to represent.Those found guilty of falling prey to the lures of Mammon deserve banishment.But to remove those players’ records from the game is impractical, unsuitable and nonsensical.By all means insert an asterisk beside every reference to a player’s name in the records forever marking him as having been proven by law to have besmirched the good name of cricket by accepting money for wrongful reasons.Even that option is going to involve an awful lot of extra space taken up by asterisks.To take a player’s name out of the records is going to leave some pretty strange looking scorecards in the annals of the game’s history.What of the partnership records, or the dismissals where the offender has taken catches for a bowler?And by eliminating a player from scoresheets does that suggest every game he has played in has been affected by match-fixing? Some of these players have more than 300 matches behind them. Has every one of them been affected?Add that up by however many players have been implicated and there will be some pretty sorry looking statistics databases around the world.The closest comparable example in baseball was the famous “throwing” of the 1919 World Series by the Chicago eight. Now known as the “Black Sox” because of their deeds.When confronted with the evidence they confessed.They were banned from baseball, but their records are still part of the statistical database of baseball. They were individuals competing in a team game.What should be worth remembering by the ICC and Condon is that despite the confessions from the players concerned the Black Sox were acquitted by the courts.Where the misery was compounded for the baseballers was that their involvement in the game was cut, and their ability to be included in halls of fame was also cut.Debate still goes on in the United States about the absence of one of the eight, Shoeless Joe Jackson, from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.What was more pertinent, and is the same in cricket’s case, are the words of Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Landis.He proclaimed after the verdict acquitting the eight: “Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game, no player that entertains proposals or promises to throw a game, no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where they ways and means of throwing games are discussed, and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever again play professional baseball.”The game is the thing. Deny the miscreants their access to it and the punishment is done.What is done cannot be undone.The records should be left as a memorial to misdeeds and as an example of what can befall those who cross the line.

Any hope of an exciting climax to the last day of the Vitality County Championship encounter between Lancashire and Warwickshire was dashed by the rain after only 75 minutes of play was possible at Emirates Old Trafford as the game finished in a draw.Poor weather had dominated proceedings throughout the encounter. But with the visitors 96 for 3 overnight, leading by 231, all results were still possible in Manchester given Lancashire’s brittle batting order this season and Warwickshire’s desire to chase a first win of the campaign.But as heavy showers swept across the ground throughout the morning both sets of players were thwarted with repeated pitch inspections coming and going without any chance of play.Eventually, a break in the weather saw the game resume at 3:15pm with a generous Warwickshire declaration giving Lancashire the opportunity to embark on a desperate run chase with 44 overs still scheduled.Luke Wells quickly departed in the second over, pulling Michael Rae straight to Jake Lintott on the square leg boundary. But then, for a brief time, the hosts looked as if they could pull off something special.Keaton Jennings slapped three boundaries but was bowled comprehensively by Jacob Bethell when attempting a reverse sweep that ended with the Lancashire skipper lying on his backside and out for 18. Josh Bohannon upper cut Rae for six before he skied the same bowler to Alex Davies at mid on for a ten-ball 15.An almost identical shot saw George Bell hand Rae his third wicket leaving Tom Bruce and Matty Hurst at the crease. The pair put on 43 runs before the rain came for a final decisive time at 4:30pm, leaving the New Zealander unbeaten on 31 and the young wicketkeeper 15 not out as Lancashire closed on 89 for 4 off the 15 overs possible.Lancashire claimed 11 points from the game, taking them off the bottom of Division One, while Warwickshire took 12, leaving them seventh.

Scotland coach Shane Burger believes the side’s experience with the bat and depth in bowling will allow it to go toe-to-toe against Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea and Oman in the first round of the T20 World Cup.”We know we can catch any team off guard if we play our best cricket, it is as simple as that,” Burger told ESPNcricinfo. “The shortest format does bring every team closer together. We know what we have in the tank. If we deliver our best cricket, we can beat any team, whether that’s Bangladesh, Oman or Papua New Guinea.”Bangladesh are the top-rated team in that group – B – and Scotland start their campaign against them on Sunday, but Burger is confident. “We don’t see Bangladesh being anywhere higher than PNG or Oman in terms of these group games. We know every single team is going to come at us. We will be their biggest game. We are prepped and ready.”Burger’s confidence also comes from Scotland’s wins over Netherlands and Namibia in the warm-up games last week, and while they haven’t played a lot of T20Is this year, Burger is hoping that they are peaking at the right time.”The matches against Netherlands and Namibia would give us fantastic momentum going into our first World Cup game against a quality team like Bangladesh,” he said. “It has allowed us to feel pressure. It has allowed us to win big moments. We have made mistakes but we also played some really good cricket over the past month.”In a nutshell, come Sunday, those performances in the past won’t really make a huge difference. It depends what we do on the day. We have to make sure we are in the present, and put in our best performance. We can only focus on the Scotland way, and back each and every individual to bring out the best performance on the day.”Related

• Scotland come in with momentum, but Bangladesh enjoying their best phase in T20Is

• Meet the T20 World Cup hopefuls

• Munsey, Cross warm up with fifties in Scotland's win

For Scotland, the senior batters like Richie Berrington, Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey bring runs, confidence and stability, and that could well be the key for them. “Our strength is finding boundaries. We pride ourselves in this, and train to do this very often,” Burger said. “It is great to have Berrington, Coetzer and Munsey in your batting line-up. It provides the rest of the batting line-up with the confidence that these experienced players are in good form.”They also help the others know what a World Cup might feel like. We rely on every single individual who have the skills and all the assets to win the game for their country.”Having a wristspinner, especially in the UAE and Oman, should be useful, and Scotland have one in 31-year-old Chris Greaves, who made his T20I debut last week, and took a four-wicket haul against Netherlands. “I am incredibly happy with what Chris Greaves have shown in the past while,” Burger said. “His ability to take wickets in the middle period, and turn the ball both ways is an asset that any wristspinner needs to have nowadays in the shorter formats.”You only have to see how many wristspinners are among the top-ten-ranked bowlers in the world, to know that they make a huge impact. Greaves certainly has put his name up to be selected, but we will not be revealing the team as yet.”

David Willey hit the highest individual score of the men’s Hundred then took two wickets in the first ten balls of the run chase as the Northern Superchargers kept their knockout hopes alive by thrashing the winless London Spirit.Willey, standing in as Superchargers’ captain with Faf du Plessis still suffering symptoms of concussion and Ben Stokes taking an indefinite mental-health break from the game, hit six sixes in his 81 not out off 45 balls – his highest score in any format for three years – to lift his side to 155 on a used, two-paced pitch, cashing in against some wayward death bowling.He then gave himself a ten-ball spell with the new ball, setting the tone for an abject Spirit chase by having openers Adam Rossington and Josh Inglis caught at mid-on and cover, respectively. Eoin Morgan top-scored for the Spirit with 27, but Mujeeb Ur Rahman sucked any remaining life out of their innings with a miserly spell of 2 for 6 in 20 balls, as Spirit fell some 63 runs short in the Hundred’s most comprehensive drubbing to date.When there’s a Willey, there’s a way
Willey had managed six runs from his three innings in the Hundred to date, coming in at No. 5, No. 8 and No. 3, and struggling to make any impact. At Lord’s, he came in at No. 4 to create a left-right partnership with the in-form Harry Brook, in the hope that one of them would be able to target the short boundary at all times.It has often been suggested that Willey’s primary weakness as a limited-overs batter is against short balls into his body but he has worked hard to improve his game, and the Spirit’s plans to him were far too predictable. He had a stroke of luck early on when he top-edged a pull over keeper Rossington’s head, but cashed in against Blake Cullen, hoicking a bouncer over the short boundary to get up and running.A flashpoint came with Willey on 34, when he miscued a pull off a full-toss from Roelof van der Merwe to deep midwicket, only for it rightly to be given as a no-ball on height. He cashed in at the death, smiting Cullen for six over the scorebox and on to St John’s Wood Road, mis-hitting him over long-off and then slugging consecutives Mohammad Amir full tosses over the short boundary and into the Mound Stand.All told, Willey hit Cullen and Amir for 55 runs off 24 balls; his strike rate across his innings was exactly 180, on a night when no other batter scored at 140. He was ably supported by Brook – who hit an outrageous straight six into the top tier of the pavilion – and Dane Vilas, but this was Willey’s night.Men against boys
Fresh from his boundary blitz at the death, Willey embraced the finest traditions of captaincy by giving himself the new ball and keeping himself on for a second set. He found enough swing to prevent Rossington from freeing his arms and hitting him over the short leg-side boundary – as he had to Southern Brave’s attack in the Powerplay on Sunday – and had him and Inglis caught in the ring as they desperately tried to clear the infield.Things hardly got better for Spirit after they subsided to 5 for 2 from 10, and it had briefly looked as though Willey would single-handedly kill the game inside the Powerplay. He returned to bowl balls 16-20 and must have considered making himself the first man to bowl 20 of the first 25 by staying on at the far end. Instead, he didn’t even bring himself back to complete his allocation, resembling a club captain making sure everyone got value for their match fee by sharing the bowling around.Magnificent Mujeeb
Spirit had briefly threatened a revival when they hit 12 and 13 runs from consecutive sets of five balls, with Morgan and Luis Reece trading blows. But when Mujeeb was brought into the attack after 35 balls, he made sure that their hopes were fleeting.Bowling his usual assortment of mystery spin and turning the ball both ways at decent pace – he zipped a couple through at 65mph – Mujeeb conceded two runs from his first set of five, and two from a spell of ten balls which accounted for Nabi and saw Joe Denly play out six consecutive dot balls, before returning at the death to remove the swiping Amir. His figures of 2 for 6 made his the most economical spell in the men’s tournament to date.

Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry is the latest high-profile player to pull out of the inaugural season of the Hundred. The 30-year old, who was due to play for Birmingham Phoenix, has withdrawn from the tournament, citing personal reasons.Perry’s absence further depletes a Phoenix squad that will already be without Sophie Devine. The New Zealander had pulled out of the tournament last month, “in order to be in the best position to prepare for international cricket, particularly with the ICC Women’s World Cup due to be held in her native New Zealand in February,” according an ECB release. While India’s teenage sensation Shafali Verma has been lined up to slot in for Devine at the Phoenix, Perry’s replacement is yet to be named.”We are obviously very disappointed that Ellyse Perry has had to withdraw from the Hundred due to personal circumstances, but we completely understand her decision and wish her all the best,” Beth Barrett-Wild, head of the women’s competition, said.Related

• Hundred promises 'world-class cricket' despite spate of withdrawals

• Williamson, Shaheen Afridi withdraw from Hundred

• Warner, Stoinis, Devine pull out of the Hundred

Perry’s Australia-team mates Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes have also withdrawn from the Hundred, ahead of their home series against India, which will start on September 19.The women’s Hundred will begin on July 21 and will run until August 21.

Australia’s hopes of retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy have been dealt a major blow, with fast bowler Mitchell Starc flying home due to a stress fracture in his right foot.Starc suffered the problem during Australia’s loss in the second Test in Bengaluru and after the pain failed to disappear in the days following the match, he was sent for scans on Friday, which revealed the fracture.”Mitchell experienced some pain in his right foot during the second Test in Bangalore which unfortunately had not subsided a few days after the Test as we had hoped,” team physiotherapist David Beakley said.”We made the decision to scan his foot in Bangalore this morning and unfortunately it has revealed a stress fracture. Subsequently, this means Mitchell will be unavailable for the remainder of the tour of India and will return home to Australia to start his rehabilitation.”Australia’s selectors are yet to name a replacement player for Starc, but as the backup fast bowler in the squad, Jackson Bird looms as the most likely inclusion for the third Test, which begins in Ranchi next Thursday.Starc will be the second player to fly home in the wake of the Bengaluru Test, after allrounder Mitchell Marsh was ruled out of the remainder of the series due to a shoulder injury. Seam-bowling allrounder Marcus Stoinis will join the squad as a replacement for Marsh.Although spinners have been more successful than fast men so far in this series, Starc picked up important wickets in both Pune and Bengaluru. He also showed his value in Asian conditions on last year’s tour of Sri Lanka, when he claimed a remarkable tally of 24 wickets at 15.16 from three Tests.Australia’s selectors have plenty of options to replace Starc, including the leading Sheffield Shield wicket-taker of the summer, Chadd Sayers, the in-form Western Australia left-armer Jason Behrendorff, and Pat Cummins, who this week took eight wickets in his first Shield match for nearly six years.It is expected that Starc will be available for the Champions Trophy later this year.

Mohammad Nawaz was having a rough night with the ball in Sharjah. The three overs he had bowled until the 20th had already gone for 46. Excessive dew meant he could barely grip the ball and it hadn’t helped that he was bowling one-over spells. There had been moments of smartness – the key dismissal of Mohammad Hafeez was one, and without the ball the catch to dismiss Shahid Afridi was, in hindsight, the moment the game turned.But he had already conceded four sixes and three fours, thus defending six off this final over, with a two-time World T20I winner on strike, could only produce an unhappy ending.Leaving him, or the rookie left-arm spinner Hasan Khan (3-0-36-0) with the last over, in fact, had seemed like a mistake. And when Tymal Mills’ valiant but unsuccessful effort at short third man off the second ball actually helped the ball along to the boundary, the game was done. Except it wasn’t.Nawaz conceded a single off the next four balls. He dismissed Chris Jordan first, a flatter, quicker delivery that found the edge and which Sarfraz Ahmed did well to hold on to. And then two inch-perfect yorkers in succession forced two run-outs, allowing Quetta to pull off a sensational one-run win – a margin replicating last year’s playoff win over the same opponents.”There was a lot of pressure, the way the ball had been coming on to the bat and how wet it was,” Nawaz told Geo TV. “But our plan was to bowl the first three balls outside off and break it away.”Once the equation came down to two off three, the plan changed. Among others, Kevin Pietersen, playing his last game of the tournament, suggested going for yorkers.”KP said on the fifth ball ‘just bowl a yorker’. It came out perfect. On the last ball a few said bowl length, some said go for the yorker. But we agreed to bowl a yorker and they just came out perfect.”I had a lot going through my mind at the time. But I was also calm, thinking I could do this.”Nawaz was one of the poster boys of the PSL’s first season, the very reason such a league was created in the first place – to bring to the fore young players like him and turn them into big-game players.He was the third-highest wicket-taker last year and his 13 wickets included arguably the ball of the tournament: a delicious, orthodox spinner that undid Brad Hodge, incidentally also in the playoff win over Peshawar.Finding his feet with Pakistan has not been as simple, in any of the formats, even with their desperate search for any kind of allrounder. But bowling an over like this – all of it to international cricketers – can be an important developmental landmark.”Absolutely, this is one of the best overs I have bowled. In such a big match, on this pitch, with so much dew. Especially after that kind of over I can’t help but feel pretty confident.”This is how big players are made, when they perform in big matches like this. This is only the start of my career, but in future I hope to learn more from it and keep performing.”

South Africa will host Bangladesh for the first time in nine years to open what is set to be a bumper 2017-18 summer, although their opponents for the Christmas-New Year period are yet to be confirmed. South Africa will host at least 10 Tests, including four each against India and Australia. Details of those tours are expected early in the new year.

Bangladesh’s itinerary in South Africa

• September 21-23: Three-day tour match v SA Invitation XI, Benoni

• September 28-October 2: 1st Test, Potchefstroom

• October 6-10: 2nd Test, Bloemfontein

• October 12: Tour match v SA Invitation XI, Bloemfontein

• October 15: 1st ODI, Kimberley

• October 18: 2nd ODI,Paarl

• October 22: 3rd ODI, East London

• October 26: 1st T20I, Bloemfontein

• October 29: 2nd T20I, Potchefstroom

The Bangladesh visit, between September and October 2017, has created the opportunity for Bloemfontein and Potchefstroom to host their first Tests since 2008 and 2002 respectively. The two venues had hosted Bangladesh in those years but have not hosted matches in the longest format since.Bangladesh’s tour includes two Tests, three ODIs – all day-games – and two T20s. All matches will be played at South Africa’s lower-profile grounds. Kimberley, Paarl and East London will host the three ODIs.After the Bangladesh series, South Africa are scheduled to host India for a full tour comprising four Tests, five ODIs and three T20s but it is yet to be confirmed whether these will take place over the Christmas and New Year period or later in the summer. The FTP originally had Sri Lanka down to tour over Boxing Day and New Year, for the second season in succession, but there has been no mention of whether that series will take place. There was also a suggestion that Pakistan could be invited. According to the FTP, Pakistan are scheduled to play India in November-December 2017.”Our scheduling discussions with the BCCI are in progress and we hope to be in a position to announce the fixtures for this tour in the new year,” Haroon Lorgat, CSA CEO said.India’s previous visit to South Africa was in 2013-14, when they cut short a tour that was due to be of the same length as the upcoming one because of disagreements over the scheduling. India only played two Tests and three ODIs on that visit but hosted South Africa for four Tests, five ODIs and three T20s late in 2015.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Mohammad Nabi struck six fours and six sixes during his 87 off 37 balls•BCB

Mohammad Nabi raised Chittagong Vikings from the dead and led them to 190 before Taskin Ahmed’s career-best T20 figures of 5 for 31 sank the chase. Nabi hit his maiden BPL fifty off 25 balls, and converted it into his highest T20 score. Nabi clattered six fours and six sixes in front of a sell-out home crowd.Nabi walked in at 68 for 4 after the fall of Jahurul Islam and added 105 for the fifth wicket with Anamul Haque, who contributed with 50, including four fours and two sixes. Nabi took his time to get his eye in, before gradually shifting gears. He smashed Darren Sammy over long-off for his first six in the 13th over and then sent Sri Lanka allrounder Milinda Siriwardana over cover in the next over. Nabi hit full tilt when he hammered Abul Hasan for four successive boundaries in the 18th over, which eventually produced 20 runs.Sixteen runs came off the next over in which Nabi was dropped on 60. Anamul, meanwhile, reached his first BPL fifty since 2013. His joy, though, was short-lived as he holed out off the next ball. Nabi, however, hit three boundaries in the last over, propelling his team to 190. They ended up 76 runs off the last five overs.Rajshahi’s chase never found rhythm, though Mominul Haque and Junaid Siddique added 44 for the first wicket. Mominul got going with four consecutive fours in the second over before becoming Taskin’s first victim in the fifth over. Siddique, Mominul’s new opening partner, who had joined the squad a couple of days ago, made 38 off 28 balls but fell to Grant Elliott when the chase needed a higher gear.The onus was then on Sabbir Rahman, who had stroked 122 in his previous match against Barisal Bulls. He added a rapid 34 for the third wicket with Umar Akmal, who managed 21 off 12 balls. Sabbir was then dropped on 24 by Mahmudul, but he failed to capitalise, driving early against Imran Khan jnr’s back-of-the-hand delivery and holing out to Tamim Iqbal, who completed a sharp diving catch.A similar delivery from Imran also accounted for Darren Sammy, who was Rajshahi’s last hope in the chase, in the 17th over.Taskin, who had earlier taken the wickets of Mominul and Akmal, also accounted for Siriwardana, Mehedi Hasan and Farhad Reza to finish with his maiden five-for in T20s. This meant he became the third Bangladeshi bowler after Al-Amin Hossain and Abul Hasan to take a five-wicket haul in the BPL. Rajshahi eventually fell short of the target by 19 runs.

Match facts

November 9-13, Rajkot
Start time 9.30am (0400GMT)0:30

Ganguly picks his India XI for Rajkot

Big Picture

As per popular perception, India the country appears to hold a special spite for England the cricket team. What else could the host broadcaster’s sales pitch always be trying to play on? In 2011 the advertising mocked an effeminate white man. India lost 4-0. In 2012-13, the ad campaign centred on playing the Englishmen like musical instruments. India lost 2-1. Thankfully this time the promotion is merely announcing that Virat Kohli and his team will play the England team (and not – Englishmen, the nationality – like last time) like a band.There is good reason to believe India will have it easy. They have looked near invincible at home since the start of the last season with the guile of R Ashwin and the accuracy of Ravindra Jadeja not giving visiting batsmen any breathing space. This side has fewer weak links and unfit bodies than the one that lost to England four years ago. Since that series England have lost two match-winning spinners and a genius batsman who could turn Tests single-handedly.In Bangladesh, Alastair Cook had to hide his spinners in his side’s 1-1 draw, a series in which the home spinners took 38 of the 40 England wickets. They are also without James Anderson, one of the finest exponents of reverse swing, for one Test at least.While England struggled against Bangladesh, India had a response for everything New Zealand threw at them in a 3-0 series win. The lower order scored runs when the batsmen failed, the spinners kept finding ways to get batsmen out, the quicks chipped in when the spinners tired or when the ball reversed, and there was no let-up in the intensity in the field. They will just want to keep repeating what they have been doing over the last two home series as they take Test cricket to a new outpost: Rajkot; the Saurashtra region has a rich history of providing Test cricketers and patronage to the sport.If England are to win a Test, they will need to take all of New Zealand’s discipline and add to it. They will have to reverse the ball, which New Zealand couldn’t but England did in equally humid conditions in Bangladesh. Their lower order scored crucial runs in Bangladesh, but they will have to keep doing so against a much more accomplished attack. They have been given a small opening through injuries to KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan; they will have to capitalise on that.Along the way they will have to repeat what they did in Bangladesh: win a toss; India have not been put under scoreboard pressure since the pitch revolution in the country. England are the only travelling team to win a toss in the last 15 Tests in Asia. They won the Test. Only on one other occasion over this period has a team won a Test in Asia despite losing the toss.

Form guide

India WWWDW (last five matches, most recent first)
England LWLWW

Watch out for…

Local boys Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja have honed their skills, playing hours and hours of tireless cricket, in this arid land. Jadeja learnt his fielding here, diving on the bare grounds. Pujara got his patience and wrists scoring tons of runs on the slow pitches of Saurashtra. Jadeja learnt his bowling by operating against the insatiable batsmen of the Pujara variety. The Test venue is a new ground where they haven’t played much of their cricket, but in front of their home crowd they might feel a little more responsibility is on them – especially Pujara, because India’s batting line-up looks a little susceptible now.Ben Stokes must have horrible memories of playing India. On a dead Trent Bridge track where tailenders scored runs for fun, he scored a duck, followed by an utterly forgettable pair as England collapsed twice at Lord’s. The Stokes that comes to India is a different player altogether. He is the man England will go to when they need lower-order runs. He is the man England will go to when they need reverse in Anderson’s absence. He is the man England will go to when they need inspiration. When they need magic. If India manage to keep him subdued, you will know England are done for.The Big Three might be on its way out as a concept, but whenever these three teams play each other, things get ugly. India and England are two of the worst-behaved teams in the world, but only in each other’s, or Australia’s, presence. India have just played out a series against New Zealand in good spirit and England won hearts in Bangladesh, but expect shenanigans and skirmishes in this series. Forget who has sinned or not, it is usually a matter of who casts the first stone, after which all hell breaks loose.

Team news

With injuries to three key batsmen, India have to rejig their trusted winning combination. While Gautam Gambhir should continue to be the replacement opener after he looked in decent touch when he played against New Zealand in Indore, there are two spots that are not yet decided. One of them will go to a debutant. A like-for-like replacement for Rohit Sharma at No. 6 would be Karnataka’s Karun Nair, but the presence of Hardik Pandya in the squad depends on the pitch. If India consider the pitch to not be helpful enough, or if they see England as a bigger batting threat than New Zealand, they could play Pandya as the fifth bowler who bats at No. 8. Pandya could even be the second quick if India decide to play three spinners. However, given the pitch looks like the one in Kanpur, expect India to play two spinners and two quicks with Ishant Sharma edging out Umesh Yadav.India (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 M Vijay, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Karun Nair/Hardik Pandya, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 9 Ravindra Jadeja, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Ishant Sharma/Amit Mishra/Umesh YadavEngland have already announced that the 19-year-old Haseeb Hameed with become the youngest debutant England opener of all time. Ben Duckett, who scored a half-century in his last innings in Bangladesh, will get another opportunity, but this time at No. 4. That means Jos Buttler, who promises aggression and unorthodoxy that can test India, must wait for his chance on this trip. With the presence of allrounders in the side, England are likely to play six bowlers: three quick and three slow.England (probable) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Haseeb Hameed, 3 Joe Root, 4 Ben Duckett, 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Gareth Batty

Pitch and conditions

This is Rajkot’s Test debut, but first-class numbers at this relatively new ground hold enough hints of what to expect: 20 five-wicket hauls for spinners in 16 matches. In Jadeja’s last match here, all 39 wickets falling to bowlers went to spinners. Jadeja took 13. There are cracks running across the length of this pitch although there patches of green too. Having said that, it is nothing England won’t expect given the recent trend of pitches in Asia – barring the UAE. If it is any consolation for them, this pitch is not expected to turn as much or as early as the ones in Bangladesh did.The outfield and the square are lush green to discourage reverse swing, but it is likely reverse will be down to humidity. England did extract reverse swing in Bangladesh, and the air in Gujarat is way drier than in Bangladesh.

Stats and trivia

• India have taken part in 33 series of five Tests or more. They have never won more than two Tests in any of them
• Stuart Broad will become the 14th England player to play 100 Tests. He averages 145.5 against India in away Tests against 17.79 at home
• R Ashwin averaged 52.64 in the last home series against England, but since then Ashwin has taken 99 wickets in four home series at an average of 16.56
• England have the best record for teams visiting India since 2000, winning three and losing four Tests
• Virat Kohli averages 20.12 against England. He has done better against every other opponent.

Quotes

“The mindset is to not compete anymore, it is to win every Test and series. For that you have to be at your A game all the time, and keep improving your A game.”
Virat Kohli has high ambitions, and hopes to match them with the hard work and skill
“We are coming as massive underdogs, there’s no doubt about that. Obviously India have got to No.1 in the world and played some brilliant cricket here, so we’re very aware this is a huge challenge. We’ll have to learn very quickly. But also we’ve got nothing to fear, because not many of our side have actually played cricket over here.”