India made as many as 3 changes in their playing XI for the fourth Test against England. Out of these, two were forced changes. An out-of-form Karun Nair made way for Sai Sudharsan. Injured Akash Deep and Nitish Kumar Reddy made way for Anshul Kamboj and Shardul Thakur. Anshul is playing his debut Test match. Karun's absence from the playing XI surprised one and all and he looked set to retain his spot in the final XI after receiving backing from captain Shubman Gill.

Speaking to press a day before the game, Shubhman hinted at retaining Karun in the final XI. But the opposite happened. "Yes, we have had conversations with him , but we think he is batting well. Sometimes it's not, first match he didn't really play at his number. It's difficult when a player is making a comeback in a series like this, you know. But I don't think there's been any issue with his batting," he said.

"Sometimes it's also about getting that click. Once you're able to make your 50, then you're able to get back into your zone and get some big runs. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened for him so far. But we are hopeful that he will be able to turn around."

Karun, who made his Test return after 7 years, played the first 3 Tests. He kicked off the series with scores of 0 and 20 in Leeds. He followed up with scores of 31 and 26. Karun failed to score big and scored 40 and 14 in the third Test.

Nair scored 131 runs in six innings before getting dropped. Sudharsan, who played the first Test of the series, is likely to get a long rope as he has age on his side. The left-handed batsman has 1987 runs in 30 first-class matches.