India face selection dilemma, England seek redemption in Ranchi

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrahs absence is a concern but an assertive and adaptive India will have the edge against Englands seemingly depthless Bazball approach when the two sides clash in the potentially seriesdeciding IND vs ENG 4th Test beginning on FridayFrom the dry heat of Rajkot to the much cooler confines of Ranchi the temperature shift would be the only soothing factor for the Englishmen who have let it slip against the resilient hosts and are trailing 12Eyeing a 17th series win on the trot at home India have been near invincible since the shock defeat to Alastair Cooks England in 2012 After that India have won a staggering 38 out of 47 Tests and have lost just thrice two each versus Australia and England when challenges on home turfCaptaining a depleted batting lineup in the absence of Virat Kohli KL Rahul and an outofform Shreyas Iyer Rohit Sharma has found answers from the young guns whose performance has been the biggest takeaway from the series so farWhether it is Yashasvi Jaiswal who has maintained an impressive average of 109 with a total of 545 runs or Sarfaraz Khan who ended his prolonged wait for a Test debut with a blazing 66ball 62 in Rajkot or Shubman Gill gradually settling in at No3 Indias next generation of batters are showcasing how a seamless transition happensAs for replacing Bumrah who has been the top wickettaker 17 of the series which was expected to be dominated by spinners it could well be Indias Achilles heel in Ranchi Bumrah has been rested after bowling a little more than 80 overs in the three goneby TestsHis reverseswing mastery on day two of the Vizag Test during a sixwicket burst was the biggest contributing factor in the 106run win that levelled the series 11On a docile Rajkot wicket too Bumrah made inroads giving India crucial breakthroughsAlso ReadUncapped pacer Akash Deep impresses at netsKeeping in mind the seaming conditions in Dharamsala for the fifth Test and the hectic IPL season ahead Bumrah has been given a break making Mohammed Siraj the sole experienced pacer in the lineupIt will be a tossup between Bengal duo of Mukesh Kumar and an uncapped Akash Deep for the second pacers slot in the IND vs ENG 4th TestFresh from his careerbest 10wicket haul in Ranji Trophy Mukesh is not only more experienced but also partnered Bumrah in the Vizag Test He however bowled just 12 overs taking one wicket across both inningsIt remains to be seen whether the Indian thinktank will take the gamble of giving another debut cap or persist with Mukesh who has been average at bestHistory suggests that the JSCA Stadium pitch will suit a plan featuring two seamers and three spinnersBut Englands assessment of the conditions has been that four spinners and one seamer attack would be idealIts an interesting pitchThere are a few cracks very platey and looked a bit crusty the top layer One half is good and the other has a lot of platey cracks England vicecaptain Ollie Pope had said after the team checked in here on ThursdayThat may bring Shoaib Bashir into the picture to go alongside Tom Hartley Rehan Ahmed and parttimer Joe Root Root has more overs 107 under his belt than runs 77 in this seriesIndia on the other hand have preferred the conventional twopacerthreespinner combination and its unlikely that Axar Patel would be recalled The team is expected to stick to Ravichandran Ashwin Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra JadejaHistorically the Ranchi pitch has proven deceptive for the visiting teamsIn the last Test here in 2019 South Africa were blown away by the duo of Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav who shared 10 wickets between them as against the eight by the spin trio of Ashwin Jadeja and Shahbaz NadeemIt has never been a rankturner The pitch would be beautiful for batting for first two days and would assist spin from day three History should repeat itself the local groundsman told PTIFor the Bazball inspired England the win in Hyderabad has become a distant memory and a repeat of 2021 looks likely when India bounced back to win the fourTest series 31The record 434run thrashing in Rajkot has triggered criticism of Englands socalled aggressive Bazball approach It seems to have found a match in India after tasting success against New Zealand South Africa and Pakistan and Australia to an extentThe goforstrokes style might have helped the likes of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett who swung his bat around for a stunning 153 in Rajkot but it has also doomed the likes of Joe Root and Jonny BairstowRoot was seen as their main batter to cope with the spin challenge but the way he reverse scooped to Bumrah at Rajkot summed up the disarray he is inThe desperation to find a way out can be judged from skipper Ben Stokes expediting his rehab from a knee injury by opting to bowl at the nets ahead of the fourth TestSquadsIndia Rohit Sharma C Yashasvi Jaiswal Shubman Gill Rajat Patidar Sarfaraz Khan Dhruv Jurel WK KS Bharat WK Devdutt Padikkal R Ashwin Ravindra Jadeja Axar Patel Washington Sundar Kuldeep Yadav Mohd Siraj Mukesh Kumar Akash DeepEngland Ben Stokes C Rehan Ahmed James Anderson Gus Atkinson Jonny Bairstow Shoaib Bashir Harry Brook Zak Crawley Ben Duckett Ben Foakes Tom Hartley Jack Leach Ollie Pope Ollie Robinson Joe Root Mark Wood