Virat Kohli’s India Look to Clinch Series vs England in 4th Test
India will be eyeing to clinch the five-match Test series against England at Mumbai.
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A dominant India will be eyeing to clinch the five-match Test series against England with yet another comprehensive victory when the two teams square off in the fourth Test at Mumbai on Wednesday.
With an unassailable 2-0 lead after three Tests, the confidence of the Virat Kohli-led team is sky high and they would like to regain the Anthony de Mello Trophy which they had lost to Alastair Cook's side back in 2012.
Even if England manage a draw, India will win the series for the first time against England since 2008. The visitors won the series against India in 2011 in England, 2012 in India and 2014 in England again.
However, one of India’s main batsmen, Ajinkya Rahane has been ruled out of the fourth Test. Manish Pandey is set to replace the Mumbai player in the Indian squad. And Shardul Thakur has been called as a back up for Mohammed Shami, who had a sore knee after the third Test.
In their last two Test meetings at the Wankhede, England had prevailed over India and the 2012 Test match will always be remembered as one where Kevin Pietersen played perhaps one of the finest knocks by an overseas batsman on Indian soil.
Wednesday’s Test match gives India a chance to take revenge for the two earlier defeats and also make the Chennai Test inconsequential.
The tourists suffered a heavy loss in Mohali and are now expected to come hard at the hosts after spending a week in Dubai.
In the interim, England had also replaced two injured Asian-origin players – impressive teenage opener Haseeb Hameed and left arm spinner Zafar Ansari – with two uncapped players – Keaton Jennings and Liam Dawson.
Hameed's loss due to a finger fracture sustained in Mohali is a big blow to England who will be hoping that the South Africa-born Jennings will step into the other youngster's shoes seamlessly and perform well at the top of the order with skipper Alastair Cook.
India, too, have had injury concerns but as head coach Anil Kumble pointed out at a media conference on Tuesday, the newcomers had slipped in and performed well to contribute to the hosts' domination of the rubber after having played second fiddle to the tourists in the series opener at Rajkot.
India's top-order has been shored up by the sublime form exhibited by number three batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and captain Virat Kohli and any subsequent wobble has been arrested by the lower order batsmen led by Ravichandran Ashwin.
Parthiv Patel, who was recalled to the team after an eight-year gap, took on the unenviable job of opening the batting against the top-class England new-ball attack led by the redoubtable James Anderson in Mohali, making 42 and 67 respectively.
With the return to fitness after a forearm injury of KL Rahul, who did not play the third game of the series, the wicketkeeper is expected to bat in the middle-order.
The lone change that is likely to happen is replacement of Karun Nair, who made his debut in Mohali, making way for Rahul, as the rest of the combination is unlikely to be tinkered with unless there's a last-minute injury.
In the England camp captain Cook's poor form is a cause for concern. The 31-year-old’s form dipped along with that of their other main batsman, Joe Root, after Rajkot and they will take comfort from the fact that it was at the Wankhede that Cook thrived four years ago in the company of Kevin Pietersen to mark a turnaround in the series.
The good news for them is Stuart Broad’s expected return to full fitness after having taken almost a fortnight to recover from his foot injury sustained in the Visakhapatnam Test match.
However, the visitors are up against a team on the cusp of repeating their previous best unbeaten streak in Tests.
Since losing to Sri Lanka in Galle last August, the hosts have not tasted defeat in their last 16 Tests, winning 12 and drawing the other four.
(With inputs from PTI)