IND vs ENG 4th Test: Possible changes in England’s Playing11 for 4th Test: With already 2-1 down in the five-match test series, England are in line to recall one of their premier pacers Ollie Robinson for the Ranchi Test against India. The IND vs ENG 4th Test begins on February 23 at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi.
Ollie Robinson, who hasn’t had an opportunity to have a go at the Indian batters so far in the test series, is likely to get a chance in the upcoming fourth test. The pacer could be a potent weapon for England as they look to level the series after getting into a do-or-die situation.
England have tried to go with the pair of Mark Wood and James Anderson, however, both of them haven’t been effective in the Indian surfaces in the ongoing series. While James Anderson has managed to scalp 6 wickets in two appearances, Mark Wood has got two for himself.
With none of their pacers yielding an optimum output, England have to look at Ollie Robinson, who has tasted decent success in his limited test career. In fact, Robinson has also been successful in the test series in Pakistan, where the wicket was mostly in favour of batters.
The addition of Ollie Robinson could boost England’s hopes of making a comeback in the test series. With two games to go, England will fancy themselves to at least make the scoreline 3-2 at the end of the series.
Speedster Mark Wood is likely to be rested to make way for Ollie Robinson for the fourth test in Ranchi. Moreover, England could think of resting James Anderson, should skipper Ben Stokes be fully fit to bowl in the test.
If Stokes provides his services in the bowling department, England could also add the likes of Shoaib Bashir to the attack, who adds decent value to England’s spin bowling department.
The initial impression of the surface in Ranchi, England’s vice-captain Ollie Pope reckons it’s going to be a platey surface, which would dry up in the coming days.
There’s a lot of cracks,” Ollie Pope, England’s vice-captain, said. “It’s very platey, and they’ve just wetted it as well, which generally dries it up. It doesn’t necessarily look like a belting wicket at the moment. It kind of looks like one-half is good, and then there are a lot of platey cracks. That’s how we see it at the minute. I think we will see what happens tomorrow after the Indian team has looked at the wicket, then make a decision from there.”
“At the minute, it looks like batting from the far end, it’s outside the right-hander’s off-stump and then from this end, the left-hander’s off-stump. It just looks like it’s down the wicket, it’s kind of plated on one side and then the other side looks like a pretty good wicket.
With spin playing a crucial role, it would be a wise decision to add Shoaib Bashir into the playing11. However, a lot will depend upon who Ben Stokes shows up as far as his bowling services are concerned.
Below is details of Possible changes in England’s Playing11 for 4th test:
Possible changes in England’s Playing11 for 4th Test
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes(c), Ben Foakes(wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Ollie Robinson/Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir/James Anderson.
Players In: Ollie Robinson, Shoiab Bashir
Players Out: Mark Wood, James Anderson.
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