The fourth Test of the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 between England and India kicked off at Old Trafford, Manchester, with significant changes to the Indian lineup. Notably, key players Akash Deep and Nitish Kumar Reddy are absent due to injuries, forcing India to make some last-minute adjustments.
Toss Update: England Opt to Bowl First
England won the toss and chose to bowl first, capitalising on the overcast conditions in Manchester. Ben Stokes, speaking at the toss, said,
“𝑾𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒈𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅.”
England made one change, bringing in Liam Dawson in place of Shoaib Bashir, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the series with a finger injury.
Injury Setbacks Force India to Make Key Changes
For India, the absence of all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and pacer Akash Deep due to injuries meant reshuffling the squad. Anshul Kamboj, a fast bowler from Haryana, was handed a Test debut. Shardul Thakur also returned to the XI after featuring in the series opener at Headingley.
Captain Shubman Gill confirmed the changes at the toss:
“𝑨𝒌𝒂𝒔𝒉 𝑫𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑲𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒓 𝑹𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒔𝒐 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒖𝒍 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒍 𝑲𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒋 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒃𝒖𝒕,”
Gill said.
“𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏’𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔.”
Additionally, Sai Sudharsan was included in place of Karun Nair, marking three changes in India’s lineup for this crucial Test. Kamboj was selected ahead of Prasidh Krishna, who remains on the bench.
With multiple injuries affecting both sides, the fourth Test promises to be another hard-fought contest in what has been an exciting and balanced series so far.
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