England vs India, 5th Test: Match Preview, Pitch Conditions, Playing XI, And Broadcast Details
England vs India (Image Source: Twitter)
India is gearing up for the fifth and rescheduled Test match against England, starting from July 1, 2022, at the Edgbaston in Birmingham. This match got canceled last year due to the sudden outbreak of Covid-19. Hence, this match got rescheduled for this year and after this, a three-match ODI and a three-match T20I series are also scheduled for India.
Speaking about the series, India is already leading it at a margin of 2-1. However, this time India may start the match on the backfoot as their skipper Rohit Sharma might miss the match. He tested Covid-19 positive during their warm-up match against Leicestershire. Even, their regular opener, KL Rahul got ruled out of the series due to his groin injury. Thus, India, being on the edge of winning a historical Test series on the English soil, is a little-bit worried ahead of the game.
On the other hand, England is coming off a clean sweep over the current World Test Champion, New Zealand in a three-match Test series at their home. Before the series, England was in complete disarray in this longest format of the game and they brought a new captain and coach in the forms of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullam respectively. Players like Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow were in great touch along with an impressive debut for Matthew Potts. Hence, England will be in top gear to win this match as it will help them to avoid a series loss at home against India.
Predicted XIs for both the Teams
England
England will look to continue with its winning combination which worked so well for them during the series against the Kiwis. However, veteran pacer James Anderson might get into XI replacing Overton. Another change may happen if Ben Foakes does not recover from Covid-19. Then, Sam Billings can be given the opportunity as the keeper of the side.
Predicted XI
Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes/Sam Billings (wk), Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts, Jack Leach, James Anderson.
India
For India, the current skipper Rohit Sharma is yet to be ruled out from the match, as per the Indian coach Rahul Dravid. If he ultimately misses the match, Jasprit Bumrah will be the captain reportedly. Then, India might go with one more batting option in their lineup.
Predicted XI
Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj/Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah (c)
Pitch Conditions
The Edgbaston wicket is expected to be batting friendly. A little bit of help will be there for bowlers at the early stage. But, overall after winning a toss, any team will opt for batting first to put a huge score on the board.
Head to Head
Till now, 130 Test matches have been played between these sides. Among them, India won 31 games while England managed to win 49 matches. 50 matches have been ended as draws.
Venue and Broadcasting Details
Venue and Time – Edgbaston, Birmingham, 3:00 PM IST
Broadcasting Details – It will be telecasted on the Sony Sports Network while it will be streamed online on the Sony Liv app.
