England vs India: Predicting India's playing XI for 4th Test

England are leading 2-1 in the five-match Test series against India after a thrilling 22-run win at Lord’s on the final day. The visitors failed to chase 193 runs in the fourth innings and lost a golden chance to take a lead in the series. The next Test is scheduled to be played at Old Trafford in Manchester from July 23. The series will be on the line for India and a few changes to their playing XI will be inevitable. Here’s India’s predicted XI for fourth Test:

The opening duo of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal won’t change as they have fared decently together so far. Jaiswal will have to be careful, especially against Jofra Archer who dismissed him in both innings. The left-hander enjoys playing against England and India will need his aggressive knock at the top of the order. As for Rahul, he has been in excellent form and is coming off a century at Lord’s.

The middle-order is likely to witness a change as India might finaly drop Karun Nair and include Sai Sudharsan to bat at number three. Nair hasn’t been able to grab his chances in six innings of his series. He averages only 16 with a high score of 40 and Sudharsan deserves a go after being dropped post the loss in the first Test. Shubman Gill will continue to bat at number four while Rishabh Pant’s injury could be assessed before the 4th Test.

In case he doesn’t recover in time, Dhruv Jurel will be the like-for-like replacement for him in the playing XI. In case Jurel plays, we might see Ravindra Jadeja batting at five given the way the all-rounder has batted in the series so far Jadeja has scored half-centuries in his last four innings and can be back to bat at five.

Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar are also expected to keep their places as all-rounders. Both of them have done their job in the two Tests played so far. Reddy was impressive in the first innings with the ball while Sundar turned the game on its head with a four-wicket haul in the second.

There could be a possible change in the bowling attack too with Arshdeep Singh replacing Akash Deep. While the latter has done nothing wrong, Arshdeep’s inclusion will add variety to India’s bowling attack. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj should play despite all talks of workload management.

India’s predicted XI for 4th Test: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant/Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh.

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