India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bat first in the fourth T20I of the five-match series against England at the Bristol County Ground on Thursday. The visitors are trailing 2-0 in the series after the first match was abandoned due to rain, and are still seeking their first win under Iyer's leadership following a shock 0-2 series loss to Ireland prior to this series.
Injury updates and playing XI changes
Speaking at the toss, Iyer confirmed that pacer Harshit Rana and spinner Varun Chakravarthy would miss the match due to hamstring injuries sustained during the third T20I. Both players have been ruled out of the final two matches of the series. In their place, Prasidh Krishna and Washington Sundar have been drafted into the playing XI.
"We are going to bat first. It is a must-win game now, and we are going to play like that. We saw the fearlessness we've been carrying for the first two games. It's just that we are not able to execute the plans as much as possible, but today is a fresh day, a fresh start, and the boys are in pretty high spirits," Iyer said during the toss.
Iyer on strategy and conditions
Iyer emphasized the need to adapt quickly to the conditions. "When you say positive, you have to read the environment and have that sort of awareness about how the game is going. You need to adapt as quickly as possible to the wicket and where the wind is blowing. All these things, tactically, you have got to be up to your mark. If these things are sorted, definitely you get the results," he added.
Regarding the pitch, Iyer noted: "It looks good. It has got a decent amount of grass over the wicket. So, definitely we will have a look at how it plays from the first ball."
England captain Harry Brook's reaction
England skipper Harry Brook said he would have batted first as well, calling the surface "very good." He announced one change to his side, with all-rounder Rehan Ahmed replacing Liam Dawson.
"Yeah, we would have won the toss and batted. Looks a very good surface. As Shreyas said, there is a nice even spread of grass, so we will see how it plays," Brook said. He praised his team's performance in the series so far: "We played awesome. We adapted well to conditions, we communicated really well, and it was a very, very good team performance."
Brook added that winning the match would clinch the series: "It would be lovely to come into the third game that we have managed to finish and win the series. So, we will see how it goes tonight, but I think more of the same as the other night, really. Adapt to the conditions as well as you can, communicate well, and back ourselves."
Playing XIs
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (w), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Prince Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna.
England (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (w), Harry Brook (c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue.
