England captain Ben Stokes won the toss Wednesday and elected to field on an overcast morning at Old Trafford in Manchester.History is against Stokes, however, as no team winning the toss and bowling first has ever won an Old Trafford Test(3 lost, 8 draws).Meanwhile, India have yet to win a Test at Old Trafford following four defeats and five draws in nine previous matches at the Manchester ground. England had already named their side, making just one change as they recalled Liam Dawson for the left-arm spinner’s first Test in eight years after Shoaib Bashir suffered a series-ending finger injury at Lord’s. India made three changes, with batsman Sai Sudharsan replacing Karun Nair, and Shardul Thakur and debutant Anshul Kamboj coming in for injured pacemen Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep.England had already announced its team with spinner Liam Dawson back in test cricket after eight years. He replaces injured spinner Shoaib Bashir in England’s only change from the heated third test at Lord’s.India captain Shubman Gill said Tuesday that England had acted against the “spirit of the game” by delaying play at Lord’s. Gill was not happy about England batsmen Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett being late to the crease on the third day of the test, which the host won by 22 runs to take a 2-1 series lead.England can secure a series victory with a win.
Playing XIs
England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wkt), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra ArcherIndia XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant (wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
