RANCHI, India (AP) — England captain Ben Stokes won the toss Friday and decided to bat first in the fourth cricket test against India.

India leads the series 2-1 after a

massive 434-run win

in the third test at Rajkot. It also won the second test in

Visakhapatnam by 106 runs

after England won the

first test in Hyderabad by 28 runs

.

England had named its playing X1 on Thursday, making two changes from the previous game — pacer Ollie Robinson comes into the side as Mark Wood is rested while offspinner Shoaib Bashir also returns after missing the third test.

India made one change from its Rajkot combination. Pace bowler

Jasprit Bumrah was rested

and medium pacer Akash Deep makes his test debut.

The pitch for the fourth test should assist spinners as the match progresses. There was a top layering of grass to hold the surface together but there were visible cracks at the start of the match.

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Lineups:

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Ollie Robinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson

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AP cricket:

https://apnews.com/hub/cricket