🏏India tour of England: Eng vs India, 4th Test. July 23-27, Day 4 - Page 2

With the series finely poised, both teams are expected to go all out in Manchester. India, buoyed by the confirmed return of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, will be eager to level the series. England, on the other hand, will be looking to seal it with a match to spare and avoid a decider at The Oval.

India will be looking to stage a fight back and level proceedings, but will be without Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh.

Trailing 1-2 in the five-match series, India will be looking to level proceedings in the fourth Test, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday at Old Trafford. But anything can happen, just like how the series has been, and the weather report also doesn't seem to be nice. There has been heavy clouds in Manchester, and it is expected to rain on Day 1 too. The third Test at Lord's was a thriller as England managed to eke out a 22-run win on the finl day. The encounter was filled spice, drama and entertainment as fans also got to see plenty of sledging battles. In one such battle, a riled up Shubman Gill threw an abusive verbal volley at Zak Crawley and also confronted him in a heated manner.

Indian fans will hope that Jasprit Bumrah is included in the playing XI, as it is a do-or-die match. Mohammed Siraj in his pre-match press conference, already updated everyone that Bumrah would feature in the match which came as good news. After the third Test, both teams got a eight-day break. Both teams will have new energy and will be looking to prove a point or two at Old Trafford.

England are one win away from sealing the series, but India will want to avoid that. India can still win the series, for the first time in England since 2007, but will need to win the remaining two Tests. Speaking ahead of the match, England captain Ben Stokes said, “So far, the series has been great to play in and I presume it's been pretty good to watch. The 2005 Ashes series was great to watch and I think we've gone all five days in all three Tests so far so it just proves that the quality of cricket has been outstanding. Two teams going toe-to-toe and not very much separating us at the moment. It's been good to be a part of.”

Shubman Gill on India's changing bowling attack

Speaking ahead of the match, Shubman Gill said, “It is not ideal when you have to, after every match, kind of have to go back and have a different combination. But it was something that I was prepared before the series that there would be a scenario where I would have to have a different combination for every match. So, I kind of planned it before the series how we are going to go about it.”

All eyes on Anshul Kamboj

India will be without Arshdeep Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep. The trio are injured. We could see Anshul Kamboj get his debut today. Kamboj was flown to Manchester to add more depth to the depleted Indian pace attack.

Sudharsan expected to return to Indian playing XI

Sudharsan made his debut in the series opener and was dismissed for a duck in the first innings. In the second innings, he got 30, but then was dropped for the second and third Tests. He is expected to return to the playing XI for the fourth Test.

9.55am local, 2.25pm IST: Our correspondent Kaushik Rangarajan greets us with some good news from Old Trafford. "Good morning from Old Trafford. It's hazy and cool but it's not raining. Which means it's a great summers day in Manchester." Peak summer.

England have already named their XI, making just the one change from Lord's. The injured Shoaib Bashir has made way for Liam Dawson who returns to the Test side after eight years. They're far from a settled team, though, with a couple of batters under pressure and in desperate need of a big score. Zak Crawley's flaws have seemed obvious right through the series, and so have Ollie Pope's. However, this pitch might be more to their liking.

10.12am local, 2.42pm IST: "Cap presentation has just happened. Kamboj time!" Kaushik confirms. "Also see Sai in the gully. So that's the other change." Kamboj, a 24-year old seamer from Haryana, played the two unofficial Tests against England Lions as part of the India A squad before this series. What a big day for him.

Clues from warmups: "Seeing Prasidh bowling quite a bit on the side wicket. But it looks like Anshul Kamboj just marked his runup but it's at the other end. So my view is obstructed. Can tell for sure that Shardul Thakur is marking his runup," says Kaushik.

England have won the toss and have opted to field

Stokes: We're going to have a bowl.

In 1990, Anil Kumble was the last Indian to make his Test debut in Manchester. coincidentally, both Anil Kumble & Anshul Kamboj have a 10-wicket haul in FC Cricket.

Pitch report | Michael Atherton: Four championship games and all four have been drawn. Hard to force a result. Groundsman has left grass on the surface. That combined with the overcast conditions, captains may want to bowl first. However, no team has won a Test here after opting to bowl, ever.

Gill: I was actually confused. Good toss to lose.

Playing 11 ---

Teams:

India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Anshul Kamboj

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