Keaton Jennings to make England Test debut against India in Mumbai
Thursday 16 March 2017 12:47, UK
Keaton Jennings will make his England Test debut against India in Mumbai on Thursday, with coverage underway from 3.30am on Sky Sports 2 HD.
Alastair Cook confirmed on the eve of the fourth Test that Durham left-hander Jennings will become his 11th opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss four years ago.
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South Africa-born Jennings - top scorer in Division One of the County Championship last season - was summoned after a broken finger ended Haseeb Hameed's promising debut tour.
And with Ben Duckett and Garry Ballance out of form, the 24-year-old comes in on the back of a Lions century last week, with England 2-0 down in the five-match series.
"He is going to play," Cook said. "He is going to open the batting - another great opportunity for a guy.
"He's in good touch, has spent some time in the middle for the Lions - making a hundred - and it is a very special day for him tomorrow."
Cook does not expect the latest change of partner to impact his own batting, and he said: "It doesn't really affect me. You don't just bat with your opening partner, you bat with people at three, four, five as well.
"I will just make sure Keaton plays the way he wants to play, keep him calm I suppose. Obviously it's disappointing about 'Has', we obviously found a player there. But if Keaton comes in and does well again, it's just adding to our top-order players."
Liam Dawson has also joined the squad as Zafar Ansari's replacement and is available for selection, but England are less sure about Stuart Broad's fitness after a strained tendon in his right foot ruled him out of the third-Test defeat in Mohali. Cook described the seamer's chances of playing in Mumbai as "50-50"
England made a strong start to the series in Rajkot when they made India fight hard in their second innings to eke out a draw but lost the next two Tests to trail 2-0 against the world's No 1 Test side.
They drew lot of flak for defensive batting while chasing an improbable 405 to win the second Test and coach Trevor Bayliss said it was time for the side to show more positive intent.
"It's a clear message I knew was coming out," Cook said. "We do have to take that second innings in Vizag out of it, where we played that way.
"But I wonder whether that did kind of tie into the third game and there was a bit of hangover and we did go back into our shells a bit.
"After chatting around a bit, I think it was quite a clear message that we wanted to play a little bit more aggressively and with a bit more intent."
India come into the game without middle-order batsman Ajinkya Rahane, who is out of the final two Tests with a fractured finger.
Manish Pandey has been called up, while KL Rahul should return at the top of the order after recovering from injury, with wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel dropping down.
Virat Kohli has a concern over fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who has a knee problem, with international novice Shardul Thakur in the squad as cover and Bhuvneshwar Kumar standing by to play.
England (possible): AN Cook (Captain), KK Jennings, JE Root, MM Ali, JM Bairstow (wkt), BA Stokes, JC Buttler, CR Woakes, AU Rashid, JT Ball, JM Anderson
India (possible): M Vijay, KL Rahul, C Pujara, V Kohli (Captain), K Nair, P Patel (wkt), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, J Yadav, B Kumar, U Yadav
Umpires: P Reiffel (Aus) and B Oxenford (Aus)
Third umpire: M Erasmus (SA)
Match referee: J Crowe (NZ)
Upgrade to Sky Sports now and get six months half price! Watch day one of the fourth Test between India and England, in Mumbai, live on Sky Sports 2 from 3.30am on Thursday.
You can also follow our over-by-over commentary, including in-play video clips of all the key moments, on our live blog across selected digital platforms.
