Despite the absence of senior fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian team will be aiming to eliminate England's baseball style in the fourth Test from Friday and take an unassailable lead in the five-match series. On the other hand, there will be pressure on the England team to balance the series. India leads the series 2-1 and is trying to win its 17th consecutive series at home. India have been performing well on home soil after losing to Alastair Cook's English team at home in 2012. India has won 38 out of 47 Test matches played at home since 2012. Meanwhile, it also had to face defeat from Australia and England. The match will start at 9:30 am.
The last test was played in Ranchi in 2019
The last Test between India and South Africa was played in Ranchi in 2019. For Africa, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav took ten wickets each and the spinners took eight wickets. Both these bowlers are not in the team at present. It will be interesting to see whether the England team sticks to the baseball batting strategy or not. This gameplan proved correct in the Hyderabad Test but in the remaining two Tests this strategy proved costly for Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.
Indian youth are in great form
Despite the absence of senior batsmen like Kohli and Lokesh Rahul, India's batting looks strong. Yashasvi Jaiswal has scored 545 runs in three Test matches with two double centuries. Sarfaraz Sarfaraz scored half-centuries in both the innings of his debut Test match in Rajkot. Shubman Gill is being placed at number three. Captain Rohit has played some good innings above. The Indian management is confused whether to play four spinners or not.
Captain Ben Stokes was stunned to see the Ranchi pitch
Under pressure to level the series, England captain Ben Stokes has been impressed with the pitch prepared for the Ranchi Test. He had said before the match that the pitch looks green when seen from the dressing room but up close it appears to be made of dry and black soil. Some cracks are also visible on the pitch which can become a problem for the batsmen on the last two days of the match. The pitch looks different from both ends.
Rohit has a chance of five records
Indian captain Rohit Sharma has a chance to register five big records in his name in the fourth Test against England in Ranchi. Rohit scored a century in Rajkot Test after a long time. So far, he has scored 3,977 runs in 98 innings of 57 Test matches at an average of 45.19, which includes 11 centuries and 16 fifties. Rohit is 23 runs away from completing four thousand runs. He needs seven sixes to complete 600 sixes in international cricket. He is 70 runs away from the 1,000-run mark as captain in Tests. Rohit needs 13 more runs to complete 1000 runs in the Test against England.
England will play with Robinson-Bashir
Ranchi: England team is playing the fourth test match against India from Friday.
Fast bowler Ollie Robinson and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir have been included in the eleven. Both have been included in the team in place of fast bowler Mark Wood and leg spinner Rehan Ahmed respectively. The English team led by Ben Stokes will have to win in Ranchi at any cost to maintain the series. Robinson will play a Test match for the first time in India. Robinson and Anderson will handle the pace attack. Bashir has been included in the spin department along with Tom Hartley and part-time Joey Root.
England's playing eleven.
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joey Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Fauci, Tom Hartley, Ollie Robinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.