India vs England: 4th Test Preview

India take on England today in the 4th test at Old Trafford, Manchester. This series has been a story of swaying fortunes with India winning the 2nd test but unable to prevent an English victory in the third test. With the series delicately poised at 1-1, the momentum is clearly with the hosts having inflicted a comprehensive defeat on India. While the defeat at Southampton was an abject surrender from India, they need not get disheartened because they had played well until the third test.

For India, Ishant Sharma has been ruled out and there are still concerns over in-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s fitness and chances are that he might also not be able to play this match. Varun Aaron or Ishwar Pandey might get a chance for the first time in this tour if Bhuvneshwar Kumar is ruled out. With Mohammed Shami having a tough time in England and Pankaj Singh having a disappointing debut at Southampton, bowling looks to be a real concern for the Indian team. Ravichandran Ashwin has been on the sidelines all throughout the tour but it seems certain that he would play in this match at the expense of one of Rohit Sharma or Ravindra Jadeja.

In the batting department, out-of-form Shikhar Dhawan is likely to make way for the experienced Gautam Gambhir. Ajinkya Rahane has been a revelation for India while Murali Vijay has also performed admirably till now. Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara have not been able to convert their starts and India needs both of them to add more solidity to the batting.

As for England, Alastair Cook seems to have finally found his form and this does not bode well for the Indians. Ian Bell has also looked impressive in the series along with Gary Ballance while Joe Root has also played a couple of good innings. All in all, their batting looks solid with debutant Jos Buttler also impressing in the third test.

The English bowling looks very good with James Anderson and Stuart Broad leading the line. However, there is an injury concern for Liam Plunkett and Steve Finn looks set to play the fourth Test in his place.