England vs India, 4th Test – Match Preview

England will lock horns against India in the fourth Test match of the series at Old Trafford, Manchester, from Wednesday onwards. The home team has a 2-1 lead in the five-match series after winning the third Test match at Lord’s by only 22 runs.

While England has made one change to their playing XI, with experienced Liam Dawson replacing Shoaib Bashir, there would be a couple of changes in India’s playing XI.

However, the most important update is on Jasprit Bumrah and Siraj has confirmed that the fast bowler will play in the penultimate Test. Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of the rest of the series, whereas Arshdeep Singh has been ruled out of the fourth Test due to a finger injury.

India’s hero at Edgbaston, Akash Deep, is also ruled out because of a groin injury. Ergo, the visitors can play either Prasidh Krishna or give a debut to rookie pacer Anshul Kamboj. 

India’s batting has impressed on the England tour and Shubman Gill’s team would be disappointed after they could not manage to chase down 193 at Lord’s.

On the other hand, England has been able to stay ahead in crucial stages of the series, and thus they have the lead on their side.

Head to Head: Matches: 139, Won by England: 53, Won by India: 37, Drawn: 50.

England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer

England Squad: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell

India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Anshul Kamboj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel