Following India's thumping win at Trent Bridge, Richard Mann looks at the key talking points ahead of what could be a decisive fourth Test in Southampton.
Can Jennings stop the axe from falling on his head again?
Keaton Jennings has had two bites of the international cherry now but since making a brilliant hundred on his Test match debut in Mumbai, the Lancashire opener has found this arena a brutally tough one. Vernon Philander was first to cast doubt over Jennings' belonging at this level, thoroughly exposing his technique with surgical precision that left the England selectors with no choice but to look elsewhere for an opening partner for Alastair Cook. Nevertheless, the England management have always held Jennings in the highest regard and when Mark Stoneman's place at the top of order became untenable earlier this summer, it was Jennings who got the call. A bright start at Headingley hinted at a fruitful second coming but old habits die hard and India have unpicked his weaknesses outside off stump in the same way South Africa did last year. Jennings' Test record now reads 417 runs at an average of 23.16 from 10 matches and he will know that he will only be allowed so much rope before the axe falls on his head again. For Jennings, this fourth Test could be career defining.
Will the real Pujara please stand up?
Make no mistake, Cheteshwar Pujara is a giant of the Test game and from 60 matches, he has amassed 4635 runs at an average of 49.30 with 14 hundreds. Nevertheless, the last year has been a very challenging one for Pujara with tours of South Africa and now England, leaving him woefully short of runs and with Virat Kohli seemingly having lost confidence in his number three. A county stint with Yorkshire back in the spring did little to boost his confidence but having played a dreadful shot to give his wicket away in the first innings at Trent Bridge, Pujara made a typically determined 72 in the second dig to help set the hosts a monster target. It was just like watching Pujara of old, solid in defence and certain of what to play and what to leave. When he bats time, it generally follows that his more aggressive batting colleagues will cash in at the other end and the likes of Kohli and Hardik Pandya did not miss out against a weary England attack in Nottingham that had been ground down by hard toil and the sight of Pujara's resolute bat. Seventies aren't enough, though, and if India are to win this series, the real Pujara - the one who bats all day and makes big hundreds - needs to stand up in the next two weeks.
Where does England's middle order begin?
Five batters, one all-rounder, a keeper, and four bowlers. The perfect Test team. Not according to England's Chief Selector Ed Smith. England will line up at the Rose Bowl with two keepers - one who is nursing a fractured finger - to compliment two genuine all-rounders, three specialist batsman and four specialist bowlers. It all seems rather unbalanced and when you consider the fact that Joe Root is in only marginally better form than struggling openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings, you cannot help but feel that England's batting could be vulnerable if India are able to pick up early wickets. Jonny Bairstow finds himself in uncharted waters moved up to number four while Moeen Ali's impressive county form will see him likely bat in the top six, for all he endured a horror tour Down Under in the winter. England's middle order has been hailed as the team's saviour over the last couple of years, but that was with the likes of Bairstow and Ali batting at seven and eight, not four and five, as may well be the case this week. Ben Stokes and Trent Bridge centurion Jos Buttler both performed admirably in that game but they might need something similar if the hosts are to halt a rejuvenated Indian side.