England announces playing XI for fourth Test vs India; one important change made

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has announced the playing XI for the penultimate Test against India at Old Trafford in Manchester, starting on Wednesday, July 13. The English think tank team has made only one important change to their XI.

As England are leading the series 2-1 after their narrow victory by 22 runs at Lord’s, they have decided to bring in Liam Dawson, the all-rounder, to their playing XI in the place of Shoaib Bashir, who has been ruled out of the five-match series.

Interestingly, Dawson will be making his Test comeback after the gap of eight long years, having played his last Test against South Africa in July 2017 in Nottingham. Speaking about his Test record, he has played three Tests, scoring 84 runs and scalping seven wickets.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, English middle-order batter Harry Brook has heaped praise on Dawson, stating that he is a very skillful and experienced cricketer, having played everywhere in the world. 

"He's a wily old fox, very experienced. He's a very skillful cricketer as well. He's played everywhere, played against everyone. Hopefully he can land it in the foot-holes and create a bit of spice out of there and some opportunities to take wickets,” Brook said.

"He's obviously a very good batter as well, he's got nearly 20 First-Class hundreds. That's adding to our strength in batting. He's a good bloke, he's willing to always fight for the team. He's very competitive, and it's good to have him here," he added.

England’s playing XI for the fourth Test vs India: 1.⁠ ⁠Zak Crawley 2.⁠ ⁠Ben Duckett 3.⁠ ⁠Ollie Pope 4.⁠ ⁠Joe Root 5.⁠ ⁠Harry Brook 6.⁠ ⁠Ben Stokes (c) 7.⁠ ⁠Jamie Smith (wk) 8.⁠ ⁠Liam Dawson 9.⁠ ⁠Chris Woakes 10.⁠ ⁠Brydon Carse 11.⁠ ⁠Jofra Archer

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