India tour of England: Fifth Test- Match Preview, Playing XIs, Pitch Report & Updates

India is all set to take on England in the rescheduled fifth Test match at Birmingham's Edgbaston Stadium. This match was postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the Indian camp during their tour to England last year. India currently leads the five-match series 2-1. The final Test match will take place from July 1st through July 5th. India will look to win the test match and settle the series in their favour. Notably, they have not won a Test series in England since 2007.

Team Updates

India

Ahead of the match, India faces a huge problem. The team skipper Rohit Sharma had tested positive for Covid-19 during their practice game against Leicestershire. His availability for the Test match is in doubt. The team management will have to look for another captaincy option and another opening option. Mayank Agarwal has been called up to the squad to open along with Shubman Gill in case Rohit is unavailable.

Meanwhile, the Indian team had a good game against Leicestershire. They had many positives to look at ahead of the Test match. Virat Kohli, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja all looked in good touch in the match. They will look to get good results in the Test match as well.

Probable Playing XI

Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj/Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah (c)

England

The England team is coming off a great series against New Zealand. They managed to whitewash the visitors in the three-match Test series. Under the new management of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, England has looked like a completely different team. They have been a lot more aggressive in their intent. Former team captain Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow were in excellent touch last time. They can continue the same in the next match as well.

The team management, however, may look to make a couple of changes to the playing XI from the last match of their previous series. Veteran pacer James Anderson may return to the team, and Ben Foakes may be unavailable as he has contracted Covid-19. Sam Billings might come in his place.

Probable Playing XI

Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Sam Billings (wk), Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts, Jack Leach, James Anderson

Pitch Report

Edgbaston often provides a nice surface for batting while not being absolutely unfriendly to bowlers. There usually is just a little coverage of grass here. It has some swing bounce available for the bowlers. The team winning the toss might look to bowl first here.

Match Details

Dates- 1st July 2022 to 5th July 2022

Time- 3:30 PM (IST)

Venue- Edgbaston, Birmingham

Broadcast- Sony Sports Network, Sony Liv