One day before the fourth test of England’s tour of India 2024, the visitors had named two replacements in the squad.
England Squad for Fourth Test in Ranchi
The English Cricket team has decided to maintain their two-pacer and two spinner combination for the test match at Ranchi.
Following the defeat in the Rajkot test, Mark Wood and Rehan Ahmed have been replaced by Ollir Robinson and Shoaib Bashir in the squad.
Robinson is set to make his test appearance after last year’s july when he got injured during the Ashes 2023 series. He will be joining the pacer James Anderson in the bowling line-up.
On the other hand, Shoaib Bashir returns to the squad after being benched for the third test following his debut in Vizag test. Bashir has picked 11 wickets so far in the series after Tom Hartley.
While speaking about Wood’s inclusion, “You look at the player Mark is, especially with the ball, you want someone like that operating at 100 percent.”
“His No.1 skill is how fast he bowls and the effort he put in last week was monumental. You want to be able to keep players like that on the field operating at that level.”
“Bringing Robbo in gives us good options, especially looking at this wicket. I feel like the spin will be assisted but I also feel having two seamers gives us a good chance purely because of Ollie Robinson’s release height and his relentlessness with his areas.”
Speaking about Rehan Stokes said, “You look at what Rehan’s had to go through with the visa situation and everything like that, I think he’s handled this whole tour very very well. He’s someone a lot older than what he is.”
“Obviously missing out on games is really disappointing. But again, when we keep the selection process consistent as we do and actually give pretty in-detail reasons as to why, it was understandable to Rehan as to why we’ve gone with that option.
“In the three games that he’s played, he’s gone out and tried everything that we’ve asked of him, as to why he’s been in the team. I think any other team, he’s batting higher than No.”
“8 and I think the way in which he has taken the game on with the ball is something I’ve been very, very impressed with,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, BCCI announced the India’s squad for the fourth test on February 21 where Jasprit Bumrah was rested for the match. KL Rahul was ruled out of the match as he failed to recover from his injury.
With leading the series 2-1, India is set to play their fourth test match on February 23 at JSCA International Stadium Complex.
