3rd Test: India would back themselves to chase down 240-250, says Dinesh Karthik

London, July 13 (IANS) Former wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik believes India would back themselves to chase down anything in range of 240-250 to win the third Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Lord’s.

India’s chase could begin from as early as the final session of day four’s play on Sunday after taking out eight England wickets so far. "I would think India would back themselves to chase down 240, 250. All of their batters are in form and they have consistently gotten over 300 in this series," said Karthik on Sky Sports’ broadcast.

He was also in praise of off-spin bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar, who’s picked three crucial wickets in Joe Root, Jamie Smith and Ben Stokes. "Washington is replacing one of the legends of the game in Ravichandran Ashwin and has been overshadowed for a major part of his career."

"But he's still young and has a bright future because of how well he bats. If he's able to contribute with the ball at any time in the Test match with one or two, that's exactly what his role is. He really out-thought Smith," added Karthik.

Nasser Hussain, the former England captain, also feels India are having their noses ahead of England to win the Lord’s Test and go 2-1 up in the five-match series. "India are slight favourites in my book because the pitch is doing a bit but not extravagantly so."

"That new ball is absolutely vital but what I've liked about it is that as the ball has gotten softer and older, you have to find different skills. You need to have a balanced attack. You may even need two spinners. If it's not spinning off the pitch, you may need to deceive them in the air with a bit of drift like Washington has done."

--IANS

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