England team will be heading back to their pre-series base of Abu Dhabi after an early end to their second Test match against India at the Dr YS Rajashekar Reddy ACA-VDCA International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Monday (February 5). With the third Test match set to commence in Rajkot on February 15, the Three Lions have opted for a break in the middle of a five-match Test series that concludes on March 11. The news has been confirmed by news agency PTI.
The five-match series currently stands levelled at 1-1. The visiting side came back from behind for a winning start to the series as they took a 1-0 lead in the series but the hosts registered a 106-run victory in the second Test match to level the scoreline. With a bit of a gap in between the three Tests, England have decided to use it to head to United Arab Emirates (UAE) and return only a few days before the third Test match.
IND vs ENG: England Prepared For India Tests With Conditioning Camp In Abu Dhabi
It is pertinent to note the England had prepared for the Test series with a conditioning camp in Abu Dhabi itself. Ben Stokes & Co. had opted to head to the Middle East instead of arriving in the subcontinent early for practice matches. The primary focus during this camp was to tackle the Indian spinners. As it turns out, the touring party have done decent against the spinners and even in Visakhapatam where they succumbed to a defeat, only 9 of the 20 wickets fell to spinners while 10 wickets fell to Indian pacers.
Jasprit Bumrah was India’s hero with the ball and returned with 9 scalps in the match with Mukesh Kumar getting the other wicket to fall to an Indian speedster. One wicket fell to a superb direct-hit throw from Shreyas Iyer. After the conclusion of the third Test, the action will move to Ranchi for the fourth Test and ultimately to Dharamsala which will host the final Test match of the series.