#3 – Injuries mar India‘s lead-up
The hosts will welcome back KL Rahul who seems to have recovered sufficiently from his most recent injury. Wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel might find himself batting lower down the order. *When it appeared like Karun Nair would have to be dropped after an unfortunate run-out in his only Test innings, Ajinkya Rahane’s eleventh-hour finger injury should offer him a lifeline. Mohammed Shami remains a doubtful starter due to a sore knee and the final call will be taken shortly before the toss.
Even though they have played three spinners in all three previous Tests, England might feel that two should be enough in Mumbai. However, a lot would depend on Stuart Broad’s fitness with Gareth Batty’s position being under jeopardy. Since Haseeb Hameed has been ruled out of the series, Keaton Jennings will become Alastair Cook’s latest opening partner.
Probable XI
India
Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Karun Nair, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Mohammed Shami/Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav
England
Alastair Cook (c), Keaton Jennings, Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Johnny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad/Steven Finn and James Anderson
(*Note: The article has been updated after Ajinkya Rahane’s injury)
