The English all-rounders Moeen Ali and Sam Curran have been recalled to England’s playing  XI for the fourth Test of the five-match series against India at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton. They will be replacing Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes respectively. Jonny Bairstow will play as a specialist batsman and move up to No 4, meaning Jos Buttler will take over behind the stumps.

Talking about the selection, England’s Test skipper Joe Root said: “Chris Woakes is not fit to play this week and Ben Stokes has a slight issue so for the balance of the side Moeen Ali comes in for Ollie Pope. Jos Buttler is going to keep. It’s a lot to ask Jonny to do it with a broken finger, he’s fit to bat.”

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He further added, “We have to do the best thing for this team to win the game. There are no guarantees in international sport. We’ve bounced back from difficult defeats before and that’s the challenge for us to do it again here.”

Ali will be playing his first Test of the summer and he will be playing the role of the second spinner as well as the no.7 batsman, while Curran will be replacing Woakes as the latter has been ruled out due to a thigh issue. Ali has regained his position in the squad after scoring a double century and taking eight wickets in a match for Worcestershire last week.

In 2014, Moeen stunned India with 19 wickets at 23 runs apiece in England’s 3-1 Test series win, has not played a Test since he was omitted from the squad that toured New Zealand after the Ashes defeat.

England team to play the fourth Test:

Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (c), Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson