Indian cricket team is set to host England in the fourth Test match in Ranchi starting on Friday, February 23. India recorded a record-shattering 434-run win in the third match in Rajkot to take the 2-1 lead in this series but face a selection dilemma ahead of the fourth match.Â
As expected, the management has decided to rest the ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah due to workload management. Bumrah is the leading wicket-taker in the series with 17 wickets in six innings and won the Player of the Match award for his nine wickets in the Vizag Test. So finding Bumrah’s will be a big task for head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma.Â
Mohammed Siraj partnered with Bumrah in the first and second matches while Mukesh Kumar came in for Siarj in the second match. India also have uncapped pacer Akash Deep on the bench but Mukesh took ten wickets across two innings against Bihar in the latest Ranji Trophy match to make himself the favourite to replace Bumrah in the fourth Test.
Spin all-rounders Axar Patel and Washington Sundar are expected to warm the bench again as the management is unlikely to tinker with their effective spin attack in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.
In batting, KL Rahul is ruled out of the fourth Test match as he failed to recover on time. Rajat Patidar played in the no.4 position in the last two games but failed to make any impact by scoring just 46 runs in four innings. Sarfaraz Khan made a stunning start to his career by smashing two fifties on his debut in the Rajkot Test.Â
Devdutt Padikkal might get a nod ahead of struggling Patidar in the fourth Test match after a string of impressive performances in domestic cricket and India A team. Padikkal, 23, has registered four centuries in his last six overall games for Karnataka and India A.Â
India’s squad for 4th Test vs England:Â Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Srikar Bharat (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Akash Deep.
India’s predicted playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj.
