Thiruvananthapuram: Bharat prepares to take on England in the fifth and final Test match at Dharamsala on Thursday. With the hosts (Bharat) already securing a 3-1 lead in the series, anticipation runs high as they aim to maintain their unbeaten home streak since 2012.
Bharat currently leads the World Test Championship (WTC) table with an impressive 62 points and a winning percentage of 64.58. In contrast, England stands in eighth place in the WTC with 21 points and a win percentage of 19.44.
According to reports, star pacer Jasprit Bumrah is likely to make a return to the Indian squad against England and K L Rahul remains ruled out due to injury. The Indian team management is considering giving Madhya Pradesh middle-order batsman Rajat Patidar one last opportunity to showcase his skills as he shows a poor performance in the Test series against England.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Siraj is likely to be rested. Debutant Akash Deep is expected to share the new-ball duties with Bumrah.
For England, pacer Mark Wood is likely to make a comeback in place of Ollie Robinson. Additionally, Jonny Bairstow is set to mark his 100th Test cricket appearance, similar to Indian off-spinner R Ashwin.
The predicted XI for both teams:
Bharat: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Akash Deep.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir, and James Anderson.
The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium is the venue for the fifth and final Test match between Bharat and England. The stadium has witnessed only one Test match played between Bharat and Australia in 2017, in which Bharat emerged victorious by eight wickets.
Fans and sports viewers alike can catch the live telecast of the match on Sports 18, while live streaming will also be available on the JioCinema app.
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