England may be licking its wounds but nurses hope of hurting India in pretty much English weather conditions here. This optimism rose in the week leading to the fifth and final Test starting on Thursday after a fresh spell of snowfall in the higher reaches triggered another round of cold wave.
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After India took a series-clinching 3-1 lead at Ranchi, some golf-playing members of the England team travelled to Bengaluru while some others camped in Chandigarh before landing here. The weather that greeted them has surely lifted their spirits.
A start-stop-start pattern of play cannot be ruled out but the prevailing day temperature will suit the Englishmen more. In conditions helping seam bowling on a pitch — last used when Delhi defeated Himachal Pradesh in February — that could make the spinners smile, England’s skipper Ben Stokes will go in with pacers James Anderson and Mark Wood, left-arm spinner Tom Hartley and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir if he recovers from a sickness bug.
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About the pitch, Stokes said, “Before we even got here we were probably thinking it was going to be a three-seamer-one-spinner attack but then when we saw the wicket and then saw it again today, I think going with two seamers and two spinners is probably the right call. We felt there would probably be a bit more grass on the wicket just because of where we are but overall I think the wicket looks an absolute belter.”
Looking at the positives from the tour, Stokes said “we progressed so much on this tour. You look at the players we came out here with. Hartley, Bashir... people couldn’t believe we’d picked them. Look at what they’ve managed to achieve on this trip. We’ve seen Ollie Pope, the innings he played; Ben Duckett changed as a player and a person. I am very, very happy as a captain.”
Stokes acknowledged that the Indians were better in the series. “When the game has been on the line, their skill has been a lot better than ours, whether that be India with the bat or India with the ball. It’s skill versus skill and in the moments that have mattered, since the first game, India have been better.”
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Considering the return of Jasprit Bumrah and the conditions here, Rohit Sharma did not rule out a three-man pace attack instead of sticking to the tested spin-trio on a ‘used’ pitch.
The India skipper also indicated Devdutt Paddikal’s debut could wait by backed the struggling Rajat Patidar. “He hasn’t scored as many runs he would have liked to but the guy obviously has a lot of ability. He is a talent player. Very much new to Test cricket and we should give him some more time before making a judgement on him.”
The teams:
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India (from): Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, R. Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, K.S. Bharat (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Axar Patel, and Mukesh Kumar.
England (XI): Ben Stokes (Capt.), Ben Foakes (wk), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir, and James Anderson.
Umpires: Joel Wilson and Rod Tucker; TV umpires: Kumar Dharmasena and J. Madanagopal; Match referee: Jeff Crowe.
Match starts at 9.30 a.m.