Ollie Robinson and Shoaib Bashir come in England's 11 for 4th Test vs India
England have made two changes to their playing 11 for the fourth Test against India, bringing in pacer Ollie Robinson and spinner Shoaib Bashir for Mark Wood and Rehan Ahmed, respectively. The Test begins in Ranchi on Friday, February 23.
Robinson was expected to come in as a rotation option after Wood and James Anderson sent down a combined 76 overs in the third Test in Rajkot, which England lost by 434 runs. Robinson last played a competitive match in July last year against Australia at Headingley during the Ashes.
The 30-year-old's record - 76 wickets at an average of 22.21 - speaks for itself and his extra height and the ability to extract seam movement off the deck consistently could work well for England.
Bashir also brings that extra height with his off-spin, replacing Ahmed's leg-spin, which conceded almost 200 runs in Rajkot. However, Bashir would hope for a better performance than his debut in the second Test in Vizag, where he registered figures of 3/138 and 1/58.
England's playing 11: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Shoaib Bashir, Tom Hartley, Ollie Robinson and James Anderson.
"He's got unbelievable skills" - Ben Stokes on Ollie Robinson
England skipper Ben Stokes had heaped praise on Robinson earlier on Wednesday, labeling him as a pacer with "unbelievable skills".
"I told him today he has been a great example of doing the right things and waiting your turn if it comes. Not playing the first three Tests can be tough and disappointing. But the way he has cracked on and got his fitness stuff in and not let disappointment get in the way of a potential chance that might come in this series," he said.
"He's got unbelievable skills to be a successful bowler anywhere in the world. What we've seen in England is he's very skilful, but we've seen more than that in Pakistan. It's similar but different here, but the skill he possesses, he can find any movement, and his release point is always going to be dangerous," Stokes added.
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