England announce strong squad for 4th Test

“At the Oval, we could get a true Indian wicket with lot of bounce and the lateral movement is less there as well”, he said.

Kohli is placed 11th on that list after his knocks of 97 and 103 in Nottingham as India beat England by 203 runs to make the series scoreline 2-1 with two Tests to play.

“The victory was much-needed in this series and in context, and to have been clinical in all departments is a victory for the entire dressing room”.

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday dedicated his team’s victory in the third Test against England to the victims of the devastating Kerala floods. Root, among the leading Test batsmen in the world, said seaming conditions have made life tough for batsmen in this series.

England lead 2-1 in the five-match series. At Birmingham it was close. Coming into the Third Test, India had already tried two different batting combinations with all three openers – Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul – getting an opportunity at least once at the top.

“The bowling group was eager to take 20 wickets again”.

“It’s something we’ll continue to keep working hard on to make sure we give ourselves the best chance for our bowlers”.

England, whose captain Joe Root won the toss and fielded, slumped to 161 all out in their Hardik Pandya´s five for 28 the medium-pacer´s maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket. Ben Stokes who is suffering from a knee niggle is retained in the squad. Not the fact that they scored at a slow rate or looked slightly more defensively-minded but the way they adapted to the situation, the way they built that partnership and looked very clear about how they were going to score runs.

Complementing Kohli’s batting and captaincy, Harbhajan said: “When you do that, take throw downs from 18 yards or so with a wet, new ball, you get used to pace and movement”.

“The selection panel felt this was the right time to reintroduce James Vince to the Test squad”, said England national selector Ed Smith, who oversaw the 27-year-old Vince’s omission when he announced his first Test squad in charge, at home to Pakistan earlier this season.

“We obviously lost that game on day two with the way we batted but I’m very happy with the way the guys applied themselves in that partnership yesterday (Tuesday)”, he said.