Here's Why Ishant Sharma And Mohammed Shami Are Not Playing The 4th Test Against England
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Indian pacers Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami were left out of the playing XI for the fourth Test against England at The Oval. In their place, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur were brought into the team.
Going into the 4th Test, the talk was about the possible rotation of bowlers in order to keep them match-fresh. The changes were expected to be done on the basis of this but it was later revealed that the bowlers are suffering from niggles.
Here’s Why Ishant Sharma And Mohammed Shami Are Not Playing The 4th Test Against England
Both Ishant Sharma and Shami had bowled plenty of overs in the last couple of Tests, with the latter even playing in the first. As a result, the two have minor niggles which forced them out of the playing XI.
The Indian skipper Virat Kohli stated at the toss that Shardul and Umesh were the replacements for Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, which is almost a like-for-like change. Indian primary spinner and World No.2 bowler, Ravichandran Ashwin, was left out of the team once again, which turned plenty of heads.
As for England, Joe Root announced that Ollie Pope will come in place of Dan Lawrence while returning Chris Woakes replaced out-of-sorts Sam Curran. The hosts also won the toss and elected to bowl first.
India’s playing XI for the fourth Test
Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
England’s playing XI for the fourth Test
Joe Root (c), Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Craig Overton, James Anderson
