India vs England 4th Test Playing 11: Axar, Akash or Mukesh for Bumrah; Padikkal To Debut - IND Line Up For Ranchi?

Add as a preferred source on Google

India vs England 4th Test Playing 11: As India approach the fourth Test of the five-match series, they face yet another selection conundrum, and this time in the bowling unit as well.

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has been rested to manage his workload management, and that has opened an opportunity for debut for Akash Deep. The Bengal pacer was inducted in the squad ahead of the third Test.

Mukesh Kumar struggled in the second Test when Mohammed Siraj was rested. He picked just one wickets across the two innings at an economy rate of 5.83. His only wicket was England number 10 Shoaib Bashir.

He found place in the squad for the last three Tests, but was release and given permission to feature in Bengal's Ranji Trophy match against Bihar, after Siraj came back to bowl alongside Bumrah in the third Test in Rajkot.

India vs England 4th Test Playing 11: Toss up between Axar, Mukesh and Akash

Akash Deep would have easily walked in for Bumrah in the fourth Test but a couple of factors have made his debut prospect challenging. Mukesh Kumar, registered figures of 10/ 48 - his career best in first-class cricket - while playing for Bengal during the third Test.

The performance helped his domestic side win by an innings and 204 runs on Sunday, February 18. On the same India thrashed England by 434 runs to register their biggest Test win by runs.

India have taken a 2-1 lead, and would look to seal the series by winning the fourth Test match in Ranchi. Mukesh Kumar's performance could tempt the management, and give him in edge over his fellow Bengal pacer Aakash Deep.

Akash Deep, on the other hand, four-wicket hauls in successive first-class matches against England Lions to grab the attention of the selectors. Avesh Khan was dropped from the squad to induct the 27-year-old who has an average of 23.58 in 30 first-class matches which have seen him pick 104 wickets.

England have not seen much of Akash Deep. Also, the Bihar-born pacer can bring in freshness in the pace unit. However, Mukesh Kumar isn't Akash's only competition.

India vs England 4th Test Playing 11: India to play with four spinners?

Axar Patel has also come in the picture as the fourth spinner due to the expected nature of the Ranchi pitch. England vice-captain has also predicted that Axar could come in the playing eleven on the expected rank turned in Ranchi.

"Looks like a very interesting pitch. Plenty of platy cracks, one half is good. The other half has flaky cracks, look like. Not a very belter kind of surface. So let’s see what happens when India have a look at it later in the day. Every chance India can play an extra spinner - Axar Patel definitely an option for them. They have watered the pitch so potentially an extra spinner could be seen from India," Ollie Pope said while interacting to the media.

England played the first two matches with pacer only. India have played each of their first two matches with two specialist spinners. Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav form very potent spin trio which does not leave much room for the fourth spinner.

India vs England 4th Test Playing 11: Will Devdutt Padikkal make his Test debut in Ranchi?

Devdutt Padikkal walked in as a replacement for fellow Karnataka batsman KL Rahul ahead of the third Test. Rahul failed to recover on time for the fourth Test, and Padikkal retained his place.

The southpaw now stands on the cusp of making his Test debut for India. The 23-year-old has been in superb form this year. He has four hundreds in his last six first-class outings. Just before being called into the Indian Test team, he scored 151 runs in the first innings of a Ranji Trophy match against Tamil Nadu.

Madhya Pradesh batter Rajat Patidar made his debut in the second Test but hasn't impressed yet. The right-hander scored 32 and 9 in his debut Test, before getting out for 5 and 0 in the third Test in Rajkot. All the other India batters scored heavily in the match.

Padikkal was seen having a close look at the Ranchi pitch alongside Ashwin, Rahul Dravid and batting coach Vikram Rathour. There is a high chance of the southpaw making his Test debut on Friday.