The pitch at the ACA-VDCA ground is expected to be a rank turner that will test the visiting side's batting unit big time after skipper Virat Kohli expressed his displeasure about the Rajkot strip where Indian spinners got a total nine wickets with four English batsmen scoring hundreds.
Questions are being raised about Ravichandran Ashwin's ability to get wickets on a good track after finishing with underwhelming match figures of 3/230.
As the battle is expected to boil down to the spinners, it will be interesting whether Virat Kohli wants an extra batsman or an all-rounder in the playing XI. Fielding is another area where the Indians would like to improve after their dropped catches.
Spin has been the way forward for India but the mantra did not exactly work out for MS Dhoni and Co more than four years ago when England snatched a 2-1 series win after losing the first Test in Ahmedabad.
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Despite the drawn result, four of England's batsmen got centuries and spinners had a larger share of 13 wickets, Alastair Cook and Co. Have shown that they they will not be pushovers unlike New Zealand, who were whitewashed 3-0 in the last series.
It's clear from the visitors' improved show that a tricky road lies ahead for India.
The famed Indian spinners did not dominate in Rajkot where the battle was won by the England troika of Moeen Ali, Zafar Ansari and leg-spinner Adil Rashid who returned with a match-haul of seven wickets.
"Just because they got more wickets than our spinners doesn't mean we will be at a loss but that's what I am saying that we batted 160 overs. We will make our strategy based on the pitch we get, we will select the team accordingly. We play to take 20 wickets and win matches. Whatever wicket we get, we will play on that," Kumble said.
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The leg-spinner Mishra in particular will be looking forward to return to the venue where he had shot New Zealand out for 79 in 23.1 overs with his devastating 5/18 in an ODI two weeks back.
The middle-order looked wobbly the moment Cheteshwar Pujara or Ajinkya Rahane have a failure with the bat as they have to bat deep with Virat Kohli at centre to give their spinners enough cushion on the scoreboard.
Gambhir's comeback experiment is clearly not giving the results and the lefthander with his open chested stance found himself out of sorts against a Stuart Broad in-coming delivery to be trapped leg before wicket.
About the spin battle, England cannot be underestimated and they have made their intention clear by extending the contract of Pakistani great Saqlain Mushtaq who's travelling as the spin bowling consultant.
Originally he was slated to leave after the first Test but Saqlain is to stay here till Mohali Test as there will be an off the field battle between him and India head coach Anil Kumble.
Past series have proven that India tour have produced two of the best batsmen they have produced recently -- in Cook and Joe Root both of whom made impressive debuts in Nagpur in 2006 and 2012.
Much similar to what happened in the past, the present series has seen the emergence of Haseeb Hameed who showed the perfect temperament needed in a Test format, by leaving the ball and dodging well to bouncers with his 31 and 82.
The skipper Cook has returned to his masterful best becoming the first Englishman to get past 1000 Test runs in India en rout to his 130 in the second innings, while Root proved his consistency by laying the foundation in the first innings with his 124.