England tour of India

IND vs ENG, 5th Test

Preview 

India and England will be crossing swords in the fifth and final test match of the ongoing five match Test series, which will begin on March 7 (Thursday) at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala. 

The hosts have already gained an unassailable 3-1 lead and will look to end the series on a high. The visitors, on the other hand, will eye a clinical performance in the final match of the tour. Having said that, both sides will try to give their all as important World Test Series points will be up for the taking.  

With 64.58% as their points percentage, India currently sits at top of the table for the ongoing World Test Series cycle. But with Australia and New Zealand following them closely, skipper Rohit Sharma would be keen to stretch his team’s lead at the top. Meanwhile, the three lions are finding it difficult to keep up with others as they are languishing at 8th place with a dismal points percentage of 19.44% and they would be desperate to move up the standings. 

Both Ravichandran Ashwin and Johnny Bairstow will play their 100th Test and the fifth Test at Dharamsala would mark only the fourth occasion in the history of Test cricket where two players of opposite teams will be reaching a landmark century of matches in the longest format of international cricket. 

A fresh outfield has been put in place at the HPCA Stadium to facilitate the dives made by fielders while the weather is anticipated to be really cold which would make the visitors feel at home. The pacers are believed to get assistance in the opening two days of the match which could mean the hosts could deflect from their strategy of playing three spinners. 

The series so far has been filled with ebbs and flows. The visitors started out perfectly with a 28 run win in Hyderabad. Scoring 246 runs batting first, England incurred a huge deficit when India amassed 436 runs in their first innings. But Ben Stokes’ men bounced back strongly scoring 420 runs before bundling out India for 202 runs. 

India levelled the series in the next game and then went onto win two more to go 3-1 up in the series. Jasprit Bumrah, R.Ashwin, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarafraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel made valuable contributions at crucial junctures to steer the hosts to a hard fought series victory. England were outplayed in the second and third matches but they did show resilience in the last game. Despite losing the match by 5 wickets, the visitors put up a valiant fight till the very end. Batting is one department where the visitors have struggled in particular. Apart from the opening pair of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckket, no other batter has been able to score runs consistently. Although, Joe Root did manage to get some runs under his belt in the last outing. He is one batter who will hold the key for England in this game and the former skipper would be hoping to get his midas touch back. 

Ahead of the final match, let us have a look at how the two teams will fare out on Thursday. 

Match Details

Match: IND vs ENG, 5th Test, England tour of India, 2024

Date: Thursday, March 07, 2024 - Monday, March 11, 2024

Time: 9:30 AM

Venue: Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala

Pitch and Weather Report

The surface at the HPCA stadium has traditionally been favourable to seamers. Pacers will get purchase from the wicket during the initial passage of play whereas spinners will come into effect as the match progresses. There will be runs on offer for batters once they get their eyes set.  

IND vs ENG Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.

England: Ben Stokes (C), James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes (Wk), Dan Lawrence, Tom Hartley, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood.

IND vs ENG Probable Playing XIs

IND: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Sarfaraz Khan, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin

ENG: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (C) Ben Foakes (WK), Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson, Shoaib Bashir

Match Prediction

England have done well in patches in this series, but it has mainly been dominated by India, who will be hungry to remain at the top of the World Test Series table by winning this match. Hence Rohit Sharma and co will start this match as firm favourites. 

Suggested Playing XI Real11 Fantasy Cricket



Team 1




Team 2