India vs England, 4th Test: Preview – Pitch Report, Team Combination and Head to Head record

Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium is set to host the fourth and final Test of the ongoing series between India and England.

The four-match leg is presently poised at 2-1. While England won the series opener, Team India bounced back to win the next two Tests.

If India manages to either draw or win the upcoming match, they will meet New Zealand in the World Test Championship (WTC) finals. Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane has also explained that they are focusing on this aspect as winning the WTC final is equivalent to winning the World Cup.

“Winning the World Test Championship final is equal to winning the World Cup. We are all focusing on that,” said Rahane in a video shared by BCCI.

Pitch report:

After the third Test, the pitch at Motera became the ‘talk of the town’ as the match ended in just two days. A similar track is expected to greet both the teams in the fourth Test as well. Spinners will again have their dominance, while seamers might get the advantage in the initial phase of play.

Head to Head record:

Matches played: 125 | India: 28 | England: 48 | Draw: 49 | Tied: 0

Playing Combination:

India

India would have fielded the same XI in the fourth Test, but there would be a forced change as frontline speedster Jasprit Bumrah has been released from the squad on a personal request.

Umesh Yadav is most likely to replace Bumrah. There might be a toss-up between Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav as well.

IND XI: Virat Kohli (c), Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar/Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma.

England

England did miss a trick in the previous fixture due to their rotational policy after not picking Dom Bess in the final XI. In the upcoming match, Bess will be surely there in the playing XI with Jack Leach around as another specialist spinner. With Bess coming in, either James Anderson or Stuart Broad would have a game.

ENG XI: Joe Root (c), Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Dom Bess, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes (wk), Jofra Archer, James Anderson/Stuart Broad.