England vs India: Moeen Ali named vice-captain for 4th test after Jos Buttler's withdrawal

England all-rounder Moeen Ali was named the vice-captain for the upcoming 4th Test on Wednesday. This came after Joe Root's deputy Jos Buttler decided to excuse himself to be with his wife with the couple expecting their second child. Moeen Ali returned to the England team in the Lord's Test. Since then he has scored 48 runs and taken four wickets in the series.

Moeen Ali to deputise Joe Root for Oval Test

The 34-year-old has so far played 63 Tests for England, scoring 2879 runs with five hundreds. He has also picked up 193 wickets so far in his Test career including five five-wicket hauls. The Test series with India is currently level at 1-1 and this match will be crucial for both teams in terms of taking the lead in the series. India won the Lord's Test by 151 runs after the first game of the series, at Trent Bridge, ended in a draw. England however bounced back in Headingley to hand India a defeat by an innings and 76 runs. 

Joe Root backs Jos Buttler to do well in Test cricket 

Speaking to media ahead of the upcoming Oval Test, England skipper Joe Root spoke about Jos Buttler's future in the five-day format. He said, "I don't see this being the end of Jos' Test career at all. I see someone that is desperate to perform well in the Test arena. I think he loves the Test game and he's a big part of our team. As far as I'm concerned I hope it's a really memorable week for him and it will be great whenever he is available to play again."

He further said, "It's really important that we respect that to be able to be at the birth is really special. Hopefully, everything goes well and on the back of it we can have a conversation and we will see [whether he is available for Old Trafford]. It's a very exciting time for him and hopefully, it's very special."

England's squad for Oval Test

Joe Root (capt), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Rory Burns, Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Image: @englandcricket/Twitter