ENG vs IND: India’s Predicted Playing XI for rescheduled fifth Test

India will be locking horns with England in the rescheduled fifth and final Test match at Edgbaston on Friday, July 1. The Indian team currently lead this series 2-1 with the series opener at Nottingham being washed out last year. A win here for India will mean that they register their first-ever test series win on England soil after the 2007/08 season.

However, it will not be easy for them against a new and improved England Test side who have just handed a humiliating 3-0 defeat to the reigning World Test champions New Zealand. More importantly, India are also in a spot of bother with skipper Rohit Sharma testing positive for COVID-19 and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in line to lead the visitors. Even senior offie Ravichandran Ashwin is expected to miss this contest reportedly due to a groin injury. Without further a do, here’s a look at-

India’s Predicted XI for rescheduled 5th England Test

Openers: Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara

There could be forced opening changes for India should skipper Rohit Sharma not recover in time. A shin injury after the WTC final against New Zealand had forced Shubman Gill to miss the subsequent Test series against England and this will be his first major challenge in English conditions. After being in and out of the Indian squad post the historic Test series win Down Under in January 2021, Gill would be desperately searching for that one memorable innings in order to permanently cement his side in India XI.

Cheteshwar Pujara is now well accustomed to the English conditions having played the  County Championship Division Two for Sussex where he had an outstanding run having amassed  720 runs in eight innings including four centuries and a double century averaging 120.

Middle-Order: Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant (wk)

Hanuma Vihari who was instrumental in India managing a hard-fought draw at the SCG last year has also been in and out of the Indian side and was finally recalled during the home series against Sri Lanka. The seasoned middle-order batter has cut-throat competition to become a regular member of the Indian Test squad.

Batting megastar Virat Kohli has not been impactful in the red-ball cricket for a while and only has one half-century which came against South Africa in January. The home series against Sri Lanka in March saw Kohli make his 100^th Test appearance and also complete 8,000 runs in the longest format. He would now be hoping to rediscover his mojo on the 22 yards.

Shreyas Iyer is slowly trying to establish himself as a regular member of the Indian Test squad. While he was not impressive in the first game against Sri Lanka, the Mumbai batter registered scores of 92 and 67 in the second game to bag the Player of the Match award as the hosts comprehensively sealed the two-match series.

Rishabh Pant on the other hand might be struggling in the shortest format, but has been scoring consistently in the longest format. He had also scored a century in the Cape Town Test against South Africa and followed it up with scores of 96, 39 and 50 in the home series against Sri Lanka.

All-Rounders: Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur

Ravindra Jadeja will be back after recovering from a rib injury that had ruled him out of IPL 2022. India would yet again be relying on his brilliant all-round performances. Jadeja’s best Test performance came against Sri Lanka in the first Test where he scored 175 and finished with nine wickets in two innings including a fifer.

All eyes will be on Shardul Thakur who has emerged as one of India’s batting all-rounders. While Thakur has the reputation of providing hand breakthroughs with the ball in hand, he can also play impactful innings with the bat lower down the order. In the four Tests against England last year, Shardul took seven wickets and scored twin half-centuries at the Oval with scores of 57 and 60.

Bowlers: Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah (c)

Senior pacer Mohammed Shami missed the Oval Test match last year due to niggle issues. His best performance in that series came during the Lord’s Test match where he starred both with the bat and ball. He took three wickets in the game and scored an unbeaten 56 in the second innings stitching an unbeaten 89-run stand with Jasprit Bumrah.

Mohammed Siraj might have had a forgettable IPL 2022 campaign for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, but he can take heart from the fact that he was one of the star performers in the four-match series against England. The Hyderabad pacer finished with 14 wickets in the series and has a chance to add more to his tally in the rescheduled Test match.

Jasprit Bumrah will have the additional responsibility of captaincy along with being the pace spearhead, in case Rohit doesn’t clear the COVID test. He had an outstanding tour of England in 2021 and was one of India’s hero with the bat along with Mohammed Shami scoring an unbeaten 34. He registered 18 scalps to his name during the 2021 tour.

Here’s India’s Predicted XI for the rescheduled fifth Test

Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah (c)