England v India: Ishant Sharma to miss fourth Test at Old Trafford

India's Ishant Sharma will remain sidelined with injury for the fourth Test against England, according to captain Mahendra Dhoni.

The fast bowler, who took a career-best 7-74 in India's 95-run win in the second Test at Lord's, missed the 266-run defeat in the third Test at Southampton with an ankle injury.

"Ishant Sharma definitely won't be fit for the fourth Test," said Dhoni.

The penultimate Test of the series begins at Old Trafford on 7 August.

India will hope to bounce back from their chastening loss at the Rose Bowl when they travel up to Manchester.

Led by centuries for Ian Bell and Gary Ballance, England racked up 569-7 declared on the first couple of days - but Dhoni believes it was his batsmen who let his side down as the tourists were bowled out for 330 and 178 in their two innings.

"There were quite a few soft dismissals," said Dhoni. "That phase (on the third day) when Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) got out and a couple of others fell had a big impact on the game.

"And I think last night (fourth day), that last session had a big impact. We lost a few wickets and a few of them were soft dismissals.

"Without that session we would have been facing a different game."

With Ishant, 25, injured, Dhoni says India will now consider the formation of their team after they replaced all-rounder Stuart Binny with batsman Rohit Sharma, who scored 28 and six, at the Rose Bowl.

"We didn't use the fifth bowler in the first two Tests so I thought with Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit and Murali Vijay around we would be able to use the batsmen who bowl a bit.

"We'll have to think about if for the next Test as the extra batsman didn't really score anything - a lot will depend on the kind of wicket that's provided but I don't expect it to be different to the wicket here."