Fast bowler Ollie Robinson and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir brought in for Rehan Ahmed and Mark Wood as England make two changes to face India in Ranchi – follow fourth Test from 4am, Friday on skysports.com and Sky Sports App
Image: Ollie Robinson will play his first game of England's series vs India as part of two changes
England have made two changes to their team for the fourth Test against India in Ranchi with fast bowler Ollie Robinson to play his first game of the series and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir also recalled.
Robinson and Bashir come into the XI in place of Rehan Ahmed and Mark Wood.
Captain Ben Stokes could potentially bowl after making quicker progress than he expected from the left knee surgery he underwent in November last year following the Cricket World Cup.
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Stokes – currently on 197 Test wickets – has not bowled since the second Ashes Test at Lord’s in July so his return on that front would be a timely boost with his side 2-1 down in the five-match series.
Bashir, who took four wickets on debut in the second Test at Vizag, joins fellow frontline spinner Tom Hartley, plus part-timer Joe Root, in the bowling unit.
England’s line-up for fourth Test
1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Ben Stokes (captain), 7 Ben Foakes, 8 Tom Hartley, 9 Ollie Robinson, 10 James Anderson, 11 Shoaib Bashir.
England must win in Ranchi in order to make the final Test in Dharamshala from March 7 a series decider, with a 1-0 lead wiped out after successive defeats in Vizag and Rajkot.
Image: England's Shoaib Bashir is also recalled to the matchday squad
The tourists were thumped by 434 runs in the third Test last week, dismissed for 319 in their first innings after faltering from 224-2 and then being bundled out for just 122 in their second knock.
Stokes described the Ranchi pitch as “interesting” on Wednesday, saying “I’ve never seen something like that before.”
“If you looked down one side of opposite ends it looked different to what I am used to seeing, especially out in India,” he added.
“It looked green and grassy up in the changing rooms, but then you go out there, it looked different – very dark and crumbly and quite a few cracks in it.”
Jonny Bairstow retains his place in the England middle order despite averaging 17 in the series with a top-score of 37 and knocks of nought and four in Rajkot last time out.
India have rested star seamer Jasprit Bumrah, while KL Rahul (injured) and Virat Kohli (personal reasons) remain absent.
Follow over-by-over text commentary from the fourth Test between India and England, in Ranchi, live on skysports.com and the Sky Sports App from 3.45am on Friday (first ball at 4am).
England Test series in India 2024
- First Test, Hyderabad: England beat India by 28 runs
- Second Test, Vizag: India beat England by 106 runs
- Third Test – India beat England by 434 runs
- Fourth Test – February 23-27 (Ranchi)
- Fifth Test – March 7-11 (Dharamshala)
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Sourse: skysports.com
