India and England are set to lock horns in the fourth and penultimate Test at the JSCA Stadium, Ranchi with Rohit Sharma-led hosts leading the series 2-1. Ahead of the fourth Test, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that Jasprit Bumrah has been released from the squad to manage his workload. Hence, the team management is likely to play uncapped pacer Akash Deep in place of Bumrah.

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Akash Deep impressed the Indian team management with his bowling during India A versus England Lions matches, where he claimed 10 wickets from two red-ball games in Ahmedabad. While India have also included Mukesh Kumar in the squad — who played the Visakhapatnam Test and partnered Bumrah — the home side are willing to try Akash ahead of Mukesh. Mukesh didn’t impress in the second Test, in Vizag, where he was expensive and claimed only one wicket (of tailender Shoaib Bashir).

Talking about Akash, the 27-year-old fast bowler has partnered Mukesh for Bengal in red-ball cricket. He has scalped 104 wickets from 30 first-class games, at an average of 23.58.

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It will be interesting to see who partners Mohammed Siraj in the pace department in Ranchi. Rohit & Co. will look to attain an unassailable 3-1 lead in the fourth and penultimate contest versus Ben Stokes-led England, which gets underway on Feb 23 (Friday) in Ranchi. 

India beat England in the third Test, in Rajkot, by a whopping 434-run margin courtesy of Yashavi Jaiswal’s 214 and Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round show (claiming a seven-wicket haul in the match and scoring a brilliant 112 in the first innings). Thus, the hosts will be confident to claim the series in Ranchi.

India squad for 4th Test: 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 Deep

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