India captain Virat Kohli insisted his side are unfazed by the possibility of extra assistance for England's seamers with the pink ball in the third Test at Ahmedabad.
The tourists have been encouraged by what they have seen in net practice for the day-night affair at the newly-rebuilt Motera Stadium at Ahmedabad.
While any seam-friendly conditions would be expected to give England a boost after they failed their trial by spin in Chennai last week as India levelled the four-match series, Kohli is contented by the options he has available.
In Jasprit Bumrah, India have one of the world's best pacemen while Ishant Sharma, who is set to make his 100th Test appearance on Wednesday, took nine wickets in the only previous day-night contest to be held in the country.
On that occasion in Kolkata, in November 2019, all of India's wickets against Bangladesh were taken by fast-bowlers, but even if the tourists get their wish, Kohli is not concerned.
"We're not really bothered about what the strengths and weaknesses of the English team are," Kohli said. "We have beaten them on their home as well where the ball does way more and bowled them out every time.
"There are many, many weaknesses in the opposition side as well if you are keen to exploit them. If the seamer-friendly track is for them it's for us as well.
"And we probably have, among other teams the best bowling attack in the world so we're not really bothered by what the ball might bring differently to the table. We're ready for anything that comes out of it."
Both teams have had painful experiences of pink-ball cricket. India were bowled out for 36 by Australia in Adelaide in December and New Zealand skittled England in Auckland for 58 in 2018.
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Gallery: England clinch victory in first Test
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"Both are bizarre experiences for two quality sides," Kohli said. "Barring that 45 minutes of bad cricket [in Adelaide] we dominated the Test match. We are very confident in how we play the pink ball."
Root agreed that batsmen need to careful – and not just in the evening when the lights come on the ball can start swinging.
"I think there's been a trend in all the pink-ball Test matches of collapses on occasion," Root said. "It seems to be a trend and it's something as a batting group you need to make sure you stop.
"It's sometimes been right at the start of the game, you know the morning session, late on in Day 4, that this strange sort of passages of play has happened."
The Ahmedabad stadium has a capacity of 110,000 people and authorities have allowed 55,000 tickets to go on sale each day.
Each side has had a convincing win in the first two Tests. England won the first by 227 runs, while India claimed the second by 317 runs. Both need a win to keep alive their hopes of reaching the World Test Championship final.
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 3 (Silva 8' &15, Foden 33')
Birmginahm City 0
Man of the match Bernado Silva (Manchester City)
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
F1 line ups in 2018
Mercedes-GP Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas; Ferrari Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen; Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen; Force India Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez; Renault Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr; Williams Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa / Robert Kubica / Paul di Resta; McLaren Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne; Toro Rosso TBA; Haas F1 Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen; Sauber TBA
SAUDI RESULTS
Team Team Pederson (-40), Team Kyriacou (-39), Team De Roey (-39), Team Mehmet (-37), Team Pace (-36), Team Dimmock (-33)
Individual E. Pederson (-14), S. Kyriacou (-12), A van Dam (-12), L. Galmes (-12), C. Hull (-9), E. Givens (-8),
G. Hall (-8), Ursula Wikstrom (-7), Johanna Gustavsson (-7)
