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India vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah has been released from the Test squad ahead of the fourth match against Ben Stokes’ England, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed on Tuesday. The BCCI has also revealed that wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul is ruled out of the fourth Test of the five-match series. Rahul’s participation in the final Test match in Dharamshala is subject to his physical condition. Pacer Mukesh Kumar, who was released from the team for the third Test in Rajkot, joined the team in Ranchi and is likely to replace Bumrah, the series’ highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps, in the playing XI.
With KS Bharat holding the wicket for Rohit Sharma’s India team in Hyderabad, Rahul was added to the Indian XI as the lead batsman for the series opener. Rahul scored 86 off 123 balls in the first Test against England’s Bazeballers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Former India vice-captain Rahul was unavailable for the second Test due to a quadriceps strain. Rahul was then ruled out of the third Test against England after reaching only 90 per cent of his match fitness.
Rahul continues to recover
Rahul will continue his recovery at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. Hosts India will also be without former captain Virat Kohli for the remainder of the five-match Test series. Although India missed the services of Rahul and Kohli in Rajkot, the depleted Indian team showed the strength of their bench to overcome England. Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up his 500th Test wicket while youngsters Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel earned plaudits with impressive debuts for the hosts in Rajkot.
How India crashed Stokes’ 100th Test party
Sarfaraz, who won his first Test cap after another stellar season at the domestic level, announced himself with a brilliant knock of 62 off 66 balls. The Mumbai batsman partnered opener Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second innings to help Team India post 430-4 in 98 overs. Jaiswal’s sublime double century paved the way for India to set an improbable target of 557 for England.
India without Bumrah aims to seal the series in Ranchi
Local hero Jadeja, who scored a fine century in the first innings, took a five-wicket haul to win the match in England’s second test. Thanks to the heroics of Jadeja and Jaiswal, India crushed England by 434 runs in the third Test. After registering their biggest win in Test history, India will host England for the penultimate match of the series at the SCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi on Friday.
Updated India squad for 4th Test: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (Goalkeeper), KS Bharat (Goalkeeper), Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj , Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.