England last played a Test match at Headingley during the 2019 Ashes, when all-rounder Ben Stokes scored a century to save the match and the series for his side. Two years later, England will be in a sticky situation again when the third Test against India begins on Wednesday. They are trailing 0-1 to India in the five-match Test series. And this time around, Ben Stokes isn’t around to bail them out.

The odds are stacked up against England. They are just coming off a loss at Lord’s in the second Test. Their batting lineup in this series has been found wanting. The bowling attack is severely depleted with injuries to Stuart Broad, Mark Wood and James Anderson.

To stay alive, and to have any hopes of winning the series, England will have to overcome these challenges when they face India at Headingley. The second test had a dramatic ending as India dismissed England for 120 on the final day. The match also saw a lot of sledging from both sides.

Also read: 5 things to watch out for at Headingley

There might be plenty of respect for their respective abilities as batsmen, but there’s clearly no love lost between England captain Joe Root and his Indian counterpart, Virat Kohli.

“There’s the theater and everything else surrounding the game. We’ve got to make sure that we play the game how we want to play and we look after that as best as we can, and not get too distracted or drawn into anything that’s not honest,” Root said in a video call after arriving at Headingley.

Kohli on the other hand remained bullish ahead of the match. He said that what happened in the second match showed that India is not going to back down when provoked.

“What is said on the field, and what’s done in the moment, gives you extra motivation, as I said after the game, to get together as a team even more strongly,” he said.

(with AP inputs)