Joe Root invited Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team to bowl first after winning the toss in the fourth Test match of the five-match series on Thursday.
The fourth match of the series is being played at the Rose Bowl, Southampton.
After winning the toss, Joe Root said, ” We’re going to bat first. Looks a good pitch. Sun out here at the moment. Hopefully we can take advantage. Two changes, Woakes is unfit so Curran comes in, straight swap. Because Ben’s knee has a slight niggle, Moeen Ali comes in for the whole balance of the squad. To win a five-match series you have to rely on the whole squad. Opportunity for Moeen to come back in and prove the form he’s had the last couple of weeks. Obviously a fine player. Bairstow will be fine at four. Class player himself. Message after Trent Bridge is to stay calm.”
Virat Kohli said: “I thought he was going to say the four-letter word starting with ‘b’ again. Would have batted first as well. Good grass covering, nice and even, probably the best pitch of the series. Good thing about it is that it’s hard so you can get something out of it with the new ball. We have an unchanged XI. First time in a long time. Rightly so as well. Don’t think we need to change looking at the conditions. We have all bases covered. Ashwin is ready to go as well. He was 70% in the last game. Him fit and ready is a boost for us with so many left-handers in their side. We’ve all gained so much experience, we’ve played four years of Test cricket from the last time. We understand how to react in tough situations. Guys are waiting for opportunities rather than being unaware of them. Last time we couldn’t capitalize on important moments. Key is working even harder than Nottingham and putting a good performance again.”
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
England (Playing XI): Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root(c), Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson