England skipper Ben Stokes has won the toss and elected to bat first in Ranchi for the fourth Test against India.
“We will bat first. 2-1 down, a bit more important in the context of the series, but every game is important.
"The first one hour will give us an idea about how the pitch will play, but it was always going to be a bat-first track. My bowling is coming off well, it's been a long time coming. I'm happy with the way we've operated throughout the series and looking forward to more of the same," said England skipper Ben Stokes at the toss.
There's a debutant in the Indian camp for this game as well with Aakash Deep being given his debut cap. The pacer from Bihar takes Jasprit Bumrah's spot in the XI with the stalwart being rested for the game. He has been a consistent performer for Bengal and India ‘A’ in the red-ball format and becomes the 313th men’s player to play Test cricket for India.
India lead the five match series 2-1 after England won the series-opener but the hosts fought back to win the second and third fixtures. The fifth Test gets underway in Dharamsala on 7 March.
"We would have batted first as well. Looks a bit dry and has some cracks, but that's the nature of the pitch here. The last two games were good for us and we'll have to play in the same way.
“Proud of a lot of young guys in the squad, they've taken the responsibility and have taken the challenge head-on. They are confident in their skills, moving forward it's a good thing,” said India captain Rohit Sharma.
England had announced their XI on the eve of the game with pacer Ollie Robinson and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir coming into the squad in place of Mark Wood and Rehan Ahmed. In an update this morning, the ECB has shared that Ahmed has left the camp and is headed home to England 'for personal reasons with immediate effect. He will not be returning to India'. His replacement will be named soon.
Playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Foakes (wicketkeeper), Tom Hartley, Ollie Robinson, Shoaib Bashir, and James Anderson
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