Key quick earns recall as India eye World Test Championship final berth
India have responded to their disappointing loss to Australia in the third Test by recalling experienced pacer Mohammad Shami to their XI for the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in Ahmedabad.
Shami returns to India's line-up after he was rested for the third Test at Indore, with fellow quick Mohammed Siraj the unlucky one to make way.
And Shami will get the chance to make an immediate impact, with stand-in Australia skipper Steve Smith winning the toss and electing to bat first.
While India lead the series 2-1 and have already retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy, the stakes remain high for Rohit Sharma's side with a place in June's World Test Championship final up for grabs should they register a third victory of the series.
India have given KS Bharat another chance ahead of Ishan Kishan, with Rohit showing his support for the wicket-keeper during the lead-up to the Test.
"If someone’s making a debut in the series, you’ve got to give him enough room or enough innings for him to set himself up for a big score," Rohit said.
"That is something that I spoke to Bharat at the start of the series, do not worry about what kind of pitches we play on, or what challenges are ahead, you’ll get enough time to prove yourself, because these pitches are not easy.
"If you’re playing on pitches such as these, you’ve to be ready for guys failing in some innings as well. And you’ve got to back those guys. And that is what we’re doing with KS (Bharat). He has a lot of runs in domestic cricket, has experience, and he’s a good keeper.
"I spoke to Ishan as well, when he gets a chance, he’ll get a number of games, he won’t be dropped after a couple of Tests. And that’s what we’re doing with Bharat as well."
Ricky Ponting believes David Warner missed the best time to retire | The ICC Review
Australia have stuck with the same XI that eased to a nine-wicket victory during the third Test, with left-hander Travis Head to continue in new role as opener alongside Usman Khawaja.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami,
Australia: Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann