LONDON (AP) — England won the toss and chose to bowl first against India in the fourth test at the Oval on Thursday.

England also bowled first in the previous test at Headingley, and dismissed India for 78 en route to an innings victory which tied the series 1-1.

The host side brought in middle order batsman Ollie Pope and allrounder Chris Woakes for Jos Buttler, whose wife is due to give birth, and Sam Curran. Jonny Bairstow will keep wicket for the first time since the 2019 Ashes.

India again left out spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, the No. 2-ranked bowler in the world, after Ravindra Jadeja was declared fit.

Fast bowlers Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav were in for the rested Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma.

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Lineups:

England: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (captain), Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.

India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

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