Liam Dawson and Keaton Jennings drafted into England squad

Uncapped duo Liam Dawson and Keaton Jennings have been drafted into the squad in place of Zafar Ansari and Haseeb Hameed. The latter suffered a fracture to his left-hand finger, something that prevented him from fielding against the Indians on the day. As for Zafar Ansari, the left-arm spinner has been dropped from the side following a few weak performances on tour.

Hameed will be replaced by Keaton Jennings who will be flying in from Dubai after playing for the England Lions in a domestic tournament. Although Ben Duckett is the favorite to open with Alastair Cook in the fourth Test match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Keaton Jennings also has a good chance to make his much-awaited debut for the three lions.

26-year old Liam Dawson is a left-arm spinner by trade and has already made his debut for England in the shorter formats of the  game for England, it is clear that he is a like-for-like replacement for Zafar Ansari who failed to impress.

In fact, Ansari was so poor in the first two Test matches that 38-year old Gareth Batty had to make his way into the squad for the third Test at Mohali, something that the Indians won in just four days of play.

While Liam Dawson is certainly one replacement the ‘Barmy Army’ can indeed relate to, Keaton Jennings is somewhat of an unknown commodity. The 20-year old left-handed batsman has a South African connection similar to the likes of Gary Ballance and Jason Roy. Alex Hales’ unavailability has given Jennings a chance to represent his adopted country.

Moreover, Jennings is the son of former South African coach Ray Jennings. The latter is famous for being the coach of the South Africa U19 side in the 2008 edition of the World Cup. He was also the coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL wherein they reached the semifinals of the tournament and final as well in the edition played in South Africa.

The fourth Test is set to begin on the 8th of December at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Whether the duo will get their debut or not remains to be seen.