India will clash with England in the fifth and final Test at Dharamsala on Thursday. The hosts have taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series and kept their unbeaten home run from 2012 intact.
India are leading the World Test Championship (WTC) table with 62 points and a winning percentage of 64.58. England are languishing in eighth spot in the nine-team WTC with 21 points (19.44 percentage).
Possible line-ups
Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has returned to the Indian squad, while K L Rahul has been ruled out yet again. The Indian team management is likely to give Madhya Pradesh middle-order batter Rajat Patidar one final game to come good.
Mohammed Siraj is likely to be rested, while Akash Deep, who made a memorable debut at Ranchi in the fourth Test, is expected to share the new-ball with Bumrah.
England are likely to bring back pacer Mark Wood in place of Ollie Robinson to pair up with veteran seamer James Anderson. Jonny Bairstow, who has been struggling to score runs, is all set to play his 100th Test just like Indian offie R Ashwin.
Likely XI: India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.
The venue
The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium has hosted a solitary Test, which India won by eight wickets against Australia in 2017.
The Indian think tank has asked for a slow wicket and as a result the captain winning the toss is expected to bat first. The chilly weather and cloudy conditions means the pacers too will come into play.
Live telecast
The match will be telecast live on Sports 18. Live streaming will be available on JioCinema app.
