India and England will lock horns in the fifth and final Test of the ongoing five-match Test series, which will start on Thursday at 9:30 am IST at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala.
From where the series currently stands, this match can be considered inconsequential as India has already won the series 3-1. But having said that, both teams will still give it their all for a win as crucial ICC World Test Championship points will be up for grabs.
With a points percentage of 64.58%, India is currently at the top of the standings for the 2023-25 WTC cycle. But with New Zealand and Australia following them from close quarters, Rohit Sharma would want to extend his team’s lead at the top. Meanwhile, England is struggling at 8th place with a points percentage of 19.44% and they would want to climb a place or two.
Both Ravichandran Ashwin and Jony Bairstow are set to play their 100th Test match and the Dharamsala Test would mark only the third occasion in the long history of Test Cricket where two opposition players will be marking a century of matches in the longest format of international cricket.
A new outfield has been installed at the HPCA Stadium to facilitate the dives put in by the fielders while the weather is expected to be really cold which would make the English players and fans feel at home. The fast bowlers are expected to come into play on the first two days of the match which could mean that the hosts could move away from their strategy of playing with three spinners.
What has happened so far?
The series started out perfectly from England’s point of view, who won the first match at Hyderabad by 28 runs. Scoring 246 runs in their first innings, they incurred a massive deficit when India scored 436. But Ben Stokes’ men bounced back by scoring 420 runs before getting India bowled out for only 420 runs.
But that was all about the display of Bazball on this tour, as the last three matches saw the Indian team dominating the game. In the second Test at Visakhapatnam, India batted first and scored 396, while England scored 253.
At the second time of asking, India could not produce a similar performance as they only scored 255 runs, but it was enough for them as England was bowled out for only 292, with India winning the game by 106 runs.
The third Test at Rajkot was a completely one-sided affair. India batted first and scored 445 runs and England also did well to score 319 runs in their first innings. India then scored 430/4 in the second innings before bundling the visitors for only 122, thereby winning the match by 434 runs.
England’s performance was comparatively better in the last match at Ranchi, although India still won by 5 wickets. Scoring 353 runs in the first innings, England bowled India out for 307. But they were then bowled out for 145 runs as India chased the total down at the loss of only five wickets.
Head to Head Record
When it comes to head-to-head records, England is miles ahead of India in this format of the game. These two teams have met 135 times in Test cricket, where England has won 51 matches and India has won 34. The other 50 matches have ended in draws.
That being said, India has had the upper hand over England in recent matches. If we consider the last 12 Test matches played between these two teams, India won 8 games while England won only 3, with one game not producing a winner.
Key Players
Yashasvi Jaiswal is the leading run-scorer of the series
Yashasvi Jaiswal (India): Both batters and bowlers played equally important roles in the series victory of India, but the star of the show was Yashasvi Jaiswal. While many of the Indian batters struggled against the relatively inexperienced spinners of the English team, Jaiswal looked in sublime touch in every game.
The opening batter scored 655 runs in the four matches, which came at an average of over 90. He scored 80 and 15 in the first match in Hyderabad, but the performance elevated to a whole different level in Visakhapatnam, as he scored 209 in the first innings. Jaiswal scored another double-century in the match in Rajkot, while he got a half-century in the first innings in Ranchi.
Tom Hartley (England): A major reason behind England’s poor performance in this series is their questionable batting, as from the bowling side of things, they have been impressive. The most impressive of the lot has been Tom Hartley, the 24-year-old left-arm spinner who made his Test debut in this series.
And it was a debut to remember as Hartley bowled magically at Hyderabad, picking up 9 wickets that led to India’s downfall. He has since picked up 5 wickets at Visakhapatnam, 2 at Rajkot and 4 in Ranchi. Overall, he has picked up 20 wickets at an average of under 35 and has 159 runs at an average of nearly 20.
Predicted XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma ©, Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes ©, Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.
Prediction
England might have had a few decent spells of Bazball in this series, but it has predominantly been dominated by India, who will be eager to remain at the top of the WTC standings by winning this match. Hence, Rohit Sharma’s team will start this match as favorites.