Anshul Kamboj became the 318th Test cricketer for India as he received his maiden cap on the morning of the fourth Test against England in Manchester. The right-arm pacer was called to England just few days ago. Anshul, who was part of the India A squad for the unofficial Test series against England Lions, replaced an injured Akash Deep in the final XI. Anshul returned home after the unofficial series while Harshit Rana stayed back. He pipped Harshit for a place in the Test team.

Anshul, who plays for Haryana in domestic cricket, received his maiden Test cap from Deep Dasgupta. The former India wicketkeeper-batsman is in England for commentary duties.

Anshul has bowled in England before and might not take much time to assimilate to the conditions there. He has 79 wickets in 24 first-class matches. Anshul etched his name in history books when he scalped all 10 wickets in an innings in the Ranji Trophy for Haryana.

He made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2024 and is now part of Chennai Super Kings. The 24-year-old is likely to bowl with the new ball with Jasprit Bumrah.

Apart from handing a debut to Anshul Kamboj, India made two more changes in the playing XI. The team management dropped an underperforming Karun Nair. He was replaced by Sai Sudharsan.

Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was ruled out of the series due to a knee injury, was replaced by Shardul Thakur. Shardul and Sudharsan have played a Test each in the series.

England won the toss and opted to bowl first. They had a forced change in the playing XI as Shoaib Bashir wasn't available due to a finger injury. He was replaced by Liam Dawson, who is playing his first Test since 2017. Dawson made his Test debut against India in 2016.