England V India Test Match Series 2021

India 278 all out. The last 8 wickets fell for 63 runs. Ollie Robinson finished with 5-65. Pujara failed to add to his overnight 91.

Yet another wonderful session with the ball by England bring on the oval

1-1in series with 2 to play.england need to carry on with this momentum., Concerns with Buttlers form with the bat but may as well stick with him but Curren don't know what to make of him batting poor and bowling average might lose out to Mahmood for bit more pace.

The situation with Buttler may be taken out of their hands, when he is expected to take paternity leave in early September. Bairstow would be the obvious choice to take the gloves & drop one place down the order, especially with Buttler pondering whether or not to tour Australia. That would free up another batting spot, Pope is currently the spare in the squad, but has no cricket behind him & poor form this year when he has played. The leftfield choice would be Livingstone, full of confidence & not just a white ball bully, he has a more than decent First Class record, & would be the type of player who could stand up to the Aussies.
When Root was asked about Curran's place in the side he backed him, which is what you would expect. I would rather see a fit again Woakes take his place, despite having just one 2nd XI game behind him. Woakes would maybe come in if Anderson can't paly in any of the remaining Tests, as they are back-to-back-to-back. Extra pace will help at the Oval, despite it not being the hard bouncy paced wicket of old. Wood was being put through his paces as Root was being interviewed, he will be given as long as possible to prove his fitness before Thursday, with little in the way of pace options. Mahmood has the full package, if it stay dry, his reverse-swing skills could be useful in the next matches, with Old Trafford his home ground the venue for the 5th & Final Test, in what will be a crucial game with the series on the line.

Would be happy with Livingston in middle order and also agree with Woakes.
I know Root likes Curren but I think jury is still out.

England Squad 4th Test Oval
Root ©
Ali
Anderson
Bairstow (W)
Billings
Burns
S Curran
Hameed
Lawrence
Malan
C Overton
Pope
Robinson
Woakes
Wood

See perennial no hopers or poor trier's Lawrence' and Pope continue to be considered Too six Burns,Hameed,Malan,Root, Bairstow and Ali all pick themselves but with Buttler missing tail looks long so I would go for Woakes, Overton,Robinson,Wood and Anderson

You would expect England to play the extra batsman, I'd guess Pope rather than Lawrence. Pope is a classy player & if England can make a solid start, he could be batting in the prime spot at 5. maybe Bairstow would like to hang on to that spot, despite him taking the gloves. I think that Woakes has to replace Curran & Overton will count himself unlucky to be left out to bring back Wood. Sorry to see Mahmood released back to Lancashire, I hope he takes a stack of wickets at Old Trafford against Warwickshire to force his way back into contention for the 5th Test on his home ground. No idea how Billings makes the squad as back-up keeper, he is set to play for Kent in the first 3 days of their match before he links up with England on Thursday.

Pope needs to play as a replacement for Buttler, and if Woakes is fit then he needs to replace the non all rounder Curran. (can't bat, can't ball)

Due to the crazy domestic schedule, the Championship re-start has come too late to get batsmen & bowlers any meaningful game-time. Pope is an example of such a player, but is one of the few in the ranks that is averaging 50+ in First Class Cricket, he converts 50's into hundreds, & score big hundreds, he just needs to replicate this at Test level.
If Sam Curran was a 78 mph right-arm swing bowler he would never be considered as a Test Match bowler. To have this variety is great, but pick one if they're your best 4 or 5 bowlers available. His Surrey team-mate Topley would be a better bet if he could stay fit, he's played some 4 day stuff this year, but I think he's injured again. He's taller & faster than Curran. They have the same issue with legspinners, only play them if they are International class.