IND vs ENG: Predicting India’s Playing XI For The 4th Test of the Series at Old Trafford

The fourth India vs England Test of the five-match series at Old Trafford is a game that the Shubman Gill-led Indian cricket team cannot afford to lose. They are already 2-1 down in the series, and a loss here would consign them to a series loss in England. 

England have already confirmed their playing XI for the Manchester Test, with one change to the line-up as Shoaib Bashir is replaced by Liam Dawson, who makes a return to red-ball international cricket after 8 years. 

But there is a lot of uncertainty over the line-up India will field, and with good reason – India have been hit by an injury crisis ahead of this match.

It was recently confirmed that two players who took part in the Lord’s Test would not be available for selection – Akash Deep picked up a groin niggle and was therefore rested for the 4th Test, and Nitish Kumar Reddy is out for the series.

To make matters worse, pacer Arshdeep Singh, who has yet to feature in the series so far, picked up a nasty cut that required stitches and will therefore not be available for selection. 

However, India are set to make 2 changes to the XI at the very least and it makes no sense making further changes to the line-up. 

With Deep and Reddy will be out, meaning two slots – one of a pace bowling all-rounder and the other of a pacer, open up in the playing XI. 

India’s predicted XI is as follows – Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Gill hinted that it would be a toss-up between Kamboj and Prasidh Krishna for the vacant pacer slot, which implies that the pace-bowling all-rounder slot will be filled by Shardul as there are no other players of that profile available in the squad. 

A left-field option could be to put Kuldeep Yadav in place of Reddy – Kamboj provides a batting option and Old Trafford is a venue where spin has historically played a part. 

However, 3 spinners for an overseas tour seems like overkill and the only other way to accomodate Kuldeep would be at the expense of Washington, with Kamboj then being the number 8 batter. 

The likelier choice, however, is that India keep the left-arm wrist spinner out of the XI entirely.