India vs England 3rd Test Day 2: What to expect
With Pant and Ashwin at the crease and not much batting to follow, Anderson & co. would be looking to finish things nice and early. They would want to restrict India to 350, which would still be a decent total on this wicket.
There is a bit of swing and seam on offer for pace bowlers, while Ashwin is expected to do a restricting job. With Bumrah back in the fold, it won't be easy for the struggling English top order. Ishant and Shami have also been bowling well.
Cook has struggled, while Jennings seems to be having an average series. English opening pair has not set the world on fire with their performances during the last few years, with constant chopping and changing, in quest to look for Cook's partner. Their struggle is expected to continue at Trent Bridge as well.
Talking about the English middle order, all-rounders have bailed them out on a couple of occasions during the last two tests. Pope is an unknown commodity yet, at the highest level, it will be interesting to see how he copes up with the pressure.
Butler has struggled so far and he might be looking to make amends in this Test, so, he is the one to watch out for. If India can get Bairstow early, it will set the cat among the pigeons.
With the decent Indian first inning total this time around, there will be a bit of scoreboard pressure and they cannot expect their all-rounders to bail them out all the time. India has the repertoire to keep England to under 250 runs or so.
Second day would make the direction clear, towards which this test is heading. India, with a decent first inning score and the struggling English top order, looks set to make a comeback in the series. This is where the series is going to take an interesting turn.