England’s Test squad has left India in the middle of the series and has flown to Abu Dhabi after the end of the Second Test at Vizag. England’s departure is due to the gap between the Second and the Third Test.
The next match of the Five match series starts on February 15 in Rajkot which means both teams have a 10-day break between the Second and the Third Test.
The gap allows England to reflect on the defeat in the Second match at Vizag and get some time off from the sport to spend with their families.
Deja Vu
This is not the first instance of teams leaving the country they are playing in the middle of the series to get a short break. Interestingly England has done this on several occasions.
During the 2012 multi-format tour of India, the Englishmen left the tour midway after the Test series to celebrate Christmas and New Year and then came back for the white ball leg of the tour.
Coming back to the ongoing series India’s win in the Second Test has put them in the Second spot in the WTC points table
WTC Points Table
| Rank | Team | PCT (%) | Points | Won | Lost | Drawn |
| 1 | Australia | 55 | 66 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| 2 | India | 52.77 | 38 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | South Africa | 50 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 50 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Bangladesh | 50 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | Pakistan | 36.66 | 22 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | West Indies | 33.33 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 8 | England | 25 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 9 | Sri Lanka | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Captain’s Corner
England’s captain Ben Stokes defended his team’s approach after the defeat. In the words of Stokes “In moments like that, in games when you’ve got scoreboard pressure, a lot of runs to chase down, that’s where your process and how we know that we get the best out of ourselves as individuals, that comes out.
“And I thought how we applied ourselves and tried to put India’s bowling attack under a lot of pressure was great. Unfortunately, we didn’t end up on the right side of the result. Congrats to India, I thought they played a fantastic game and, again, another great game to be a part of,” Stokes added.
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