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England captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum were seen strolling and checking the pitch for the Manchester Test starting from Wednesday.
The Three Lions are currently 2-1 ahead in the five-match series after winning the third Test at Lord's by just 22 runs. Now, India will take on the Ben Stokes-led side in the fourth Test of the series, which will be played at Old Trafford. Earlier, left-arm spinner Liam Dawson found his name in the playing XI as England announced their squad for the fourth Test of the five-match series. The lineup consists of a solitary change from the team that featured in a memorable win at Lord's. Left-arm spinner Liam Dawson (35) has been added in place of Shoaib Bashir, who was ruled out of the series after fracturing his finger while fielding on Day 3 of the third test. Bashir was England's sole frontline spinner in the first three Tests. Dawson last played a Test for England in 2017, making a return to the longest format after an eight-years. The left-arm orthodox spinner, who made his debut against India back in 2016, has seven wickets to his name from three Test matches. The 35-year-old has been rewarded for his form in the ongoing County Championship season, where he boasts 21 wickets from nine outings for Hampshire. England have retained the remaining 10 players who featured in a nail-biting win over India, to hand the hosts a 2-1 lead in the ICC World Test Championship series. Recapping the Lord's Test of the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, an unfortunate dismissal of Mohammed Siraj at the hands of Shoaib Bashir, with the ball rolling back into the stumps after a landing on the pitch, marked the end of India's stubborn resistance at Lord's, with Ravindra Jadeja left stranded following a heartbreaking 22-run loss. India lost the match despite dominating England for large parts of the game, with Jasprit Bumrah being one of the standout performers. He took seven wickets, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings. England's playing XI for Manchester Test: Ben Stokes (c), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer. India's squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav. (ANI)
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