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England have brought Liam Dawson back to their playing XI after 8 years and the all-rounder will be seen in action in the fourth Test against India which is set to be played in Manchester. Dawson, who last featured for the Three Lions in red-ball cricket in 2017, has replaced Shoaib Bashir, who has been ruled out of the ongoing series due to a finger injury which he sustained during the third Test at Lord's.
The 35-year-old Dawson is a robust batter and is also a decent left-arm spinner, who can indeed cause problems for the Indian batters at Old Trafford. He has featured in all the three formats for England, but hasn't played a significant number of matches in any of them. With three appearances in red-ball cricket, six in ODIs and 14 in T20Is, Dawson didn't quite manage to impress the selectors on international level.
Dawson has been fantastic at the first-class level
The all-rounder has however had a brilliant career in first-class cricket. With 10,371 runs and 371 wickets in 212 matches, Dawson is nothing short of a legend for Hampshire. He also has a commendable 18 centuries and 15 five-wicket hauls under his name in the format. Further on, he has had a highly impressive career for Hampshire in both List A cricket and T20s as well.
On the other hand, India are expected to make big changes to the side that suffered a 22-run defeat against the Three Lions at Lord's. This is due to the fact that they have multiple injury concerns currently in the squad including Nitish Kumar Reddy, who has been ruled out of the remaining two games due to a knee injury and Akash Deep, whose participation in the fourth Test isn't confirmed yet after he had a niggle on his groin during the third Test.
It will be highly important for Shubman Gill & Co. to win the upcoming match in Manchester as any result other than a victory would see them lose out all their chances of triumphing the series. Meanwhile, if England manage to come out victorious at Old Trafford, then they will go on to seal the series even before playing the fifth and final game.
England's playing XI for fourth Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer
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