England's Pope to debut at Lord's

England captain Joe Root has confirmed that young gun Ollie Pope will bat at number four in the second Test against India at Lord's, beginning Thursday.

The hosts will delay a decision on whether to play Moeen Ali or Chris Woakes instead of Ben Stokes, who is currently on trial for affray in Bristol, until the morning of the match, with the uncapped Jamie Porter released from the 13-man squad.

"Ollie Pope will come in and bat at four," said Root, confirming the uncapped batsman will debut in place of Dawid Malan.

That England won their 1,000th Test owed much to Pope's fellow 20-year-old Surrey rising star Sam Curran.

As well as taking five wickets in his main role as a left-arm swing bowler, Curran's sparkling second-innings 63, his maiden Test fifty, enabled England to set India a tricky target of 194.

It proved beyond the tourists, despite Kohli making 51 to follow his first-innings 149 – the star batsman's maiden Test century on English soil.

Neither side made 300 in the match, England posting 287 before India replied with 274 in the first innings.

India struggled against the swinging ball, with England finding it difficult to combat Ravichandran Ashwin's off-spin.

In 17 Tests since Root became captain in July 2017, England have managed just nine hundreds between them and, even more concerningly for their fans, have been dismissed for under 300 in their first innings seven times and for under 250 in the second innings nine times.

In Pope they have a batsman who has been in superb form for County Championship leaders Surrey so far this season with 684 runs at a huge average of 85.50, including three centuries and a top score of 158 not out.

Root, frustratingly run out for 80 in England's first innings at Edgbaston, said it was important to put the side's batting struggles into perspective.

"I think it's sometimes easy to criticise the batting group but I thought the way both seaming groups in particular bowled was outstanding," he said.

India too could make a top-order change with the experienced Cheteshwar Pujara waiting in the wings if struggling opener Shikhar Dhawan is omitted.

They also have the option of playing a second-spinner, be it orthodox left-armer Ravindra Jadeja or left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, with allrounder Hardik Pandya the man most likely to miss out if either slow bowler is selected.

"It's a good choice, a tough one too," Bharat Arun, India's bowling coach, told reporters at Lord's on Tuesday.

"We really need to look at any change in strategy, depending on the wicket."

Arun said Jasprit Bumrah was "out of contention", the paceman still sidelined after missing the first Test with the broken thumb he suffered during a Twenty20 international against Ireland in June.

As for India needing more runs from their batsmen, Arun said: "If you look at the (Edgbaston) scores, it's only Virat Kohli and Joe Root who have been able to contend with the moving ball.

"The conditions were trying. The challenge is there for us to adapt even better and we have our plans in place."

But he was wary of playing an extra batsman at Lord's.

"I would consider that as a conservative move," Arun added. "Everything depends on the conditions – and if the conditions are not going to be as friendly as in the first Test, it makes more sense to play five bowlers."