England win toss, bat in fourth India Test

England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the fourth Test on Friday as they look to keep the series alive.

The tourists trail the five-match series 2-1 after two straight losses and need to win or draw in Ranchi to avoid losing the series with a game to spare.

England announced two changes to their team Thursday with spinner Shoaib Bashir and fast bowler Ollie Robinson coming in for Rehan Ahmed and Mark Wood.

Ahmed, a 19-year-old leg-spinner who took 11 wickets in the first three matches, has left the tour due to “personal reasons” and will not be returning to India.

He will not be replaced in the squad, England’s cricket board said.

All-rounder Stokes, who previously said he would play purely as a batsman in the series because of his knee, has bowled in the nets and could do so in the Test.

India, led by Rohit Sharma, made one change from their crushing win by 434 runs in the third Test.

Fast bowler Akash Deep has been handed his first Test cap by coach Rahul Dravid to replace Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested after three matches.

Stokes said this week that he “had never seen anything like” the pitch in Ranchi, which has cracks in the track expected to help spinners.

India lost the opening Test by 28 runs but bounced back to win the next two.

Teams

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj.

England: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson, Shoaib Bashir, Tom Hartley.

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI), Rod Tucker (AUS)

TV Umpire: Joel Wilson (WIS)

Match Referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)

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AFP

(NAMPA / AFP)