England won the toss and opted to bat first in the fourth and final Test against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday.
The hosts made one change to their lineup as they brought in Mohammed Siraj in place of Jasprit Bumrah. On the other hand, England made two changes to their lineup as they brought in Dominic Bess and Dan Lawrence in place of Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer. This is the 50th Test for Root as England skipper in the longest format of the game.
India had managed to defeat England by ten wickets within two days in the third Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The match saw both India and England batsmen failing to shine and getting out to balls that did not turn and skidded through from the spinners. But critics have looked to blame the pitch for the failure of the batsmen.
The four-match series is currently being led by India (2-1) and the hosts just need to win or draw the final Test to qualify for the final of the World Test Championship (WTC).
On the other hand, England is out of WTC's final contention, and they would be playing just to end the four-match series 2-2.
If England win the last Test, then Australia would qualify for the WTC final.
India playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj.
England playing XI: Zak Crawley, Dominic Sibley, Dan Lawrence, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes, Dominic Bess, James Anderson, Jack Leach.