India v England: Hosts increasingly confident they can deal with attacking threat posed by Bazball
Jadeja is poised to return for India after a hamstring injury led to him missing their victory in the second Test in Visakhapatnam a couple of weeks ago, leaving the series evenly poised at 1-1.
There have been some suggestions of England unsettling India after handing them their fourth Test loss at home since 2013 in Hyderabad and bullishly attempting to chase 399 in Vizag before coming up short.
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Hide Ad“In all these years, whichever team has come they have not found it easy to come to India, play on the Indian wickets and win in Indian conditions,” Jadeja said.
“It is not that England are difficult to beat but they play with a different style and it takes some time to understand that. Once you understand that, it becomes easier what to do.
“That is their style. We need to have a plan B and set fields accordingly and bowl to it. We have to do the opposite to what they are doing.”
With Virat Kohli now confirmed to be out of the series due to personal reasons and KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer injured and dropped respectively, India look set to hand an international debut to Sarfaraz Khan.
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Hide AdDespite being uncapped, Sarfaraz averages 69.85 in first-class cricket to bolster a middle-order light on experience, with Jadeja expected to slot back in at No 6 on his home ground.
Paceman Mohammed Siraj is poised to return after being rested last time out, while Ravichandran Ashwin sits just one wicket away from becoming the ninth bowler to reach 500 Test dismissals.
“He will definitely complete his 500 wickets on this ground,” Jadeja.
“I am very excited because I have been playing with him for 12 or 13 years and to achieve this milestone of completing 500 Test wickets is a really big thing.
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Hide Ad“I thought he would complete it in the first Test but it’s OK, it is written in destiny he will complete his 500 wickets in Rajkot, in my hometown.”
England captain Ben Stokes, meanwhile, was coy on whether England would open the bowling with two pace bowlers, Mark Wood having come into the team alongside James Anderson.
Stokes revealed the thinking in selection boiled down to how the Rajkot pitch played in England’s high-scoring draw against India in 2016.
“Bringing in an extra seamer this week is the option we’ve gone with because we think it’s going to give us the best chance of winning this week,” he said.
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Hide AdEngland were undone by Jasprit Bumrah’s nine-wicket haul in the last meeting although Stokes says they have made no concerted attempt to combat the India paceman.
“Jasprit Bumrah is an unbelievable bowler,” added Stokes. “He’s proven that for a very long time.
"Everyone has got their own way of not trying to deal with Bumrah but we do have to score runs off him as well and that’s what we’ll try to do.
“We’ve all got our own processes against every single bowler and there’s no team way of playing anyone. But as we always try to do we’ll be trying to keep the focus around us.”