England Playing 11 vs India, 5th Test, 2024

England takes on India in the fifth and final Test match in Dharamsala starting from March 7. The Test match starts at 9.30 pm IST. Since England won the first Test in Hyderabad, nothing has gone right for them.

The side has not made the most of the crunch moments and has not capitalized on moments when India were on the back foot in the series. The Ranchi Test loss was third on the trot for England under Ben Stokes for the first time.

The loss once again opened up the topic of England’s ultra-aggressive approach and whether the side could have just toned down their approach a bit.

There has been constant rain in Dharamsala over the past few days. The temperatures are well below and the conditions are cold. Meanwhile, there are reports of India likely to prepare a rank-turner to ensure they have an advantage in the Test match.

In this article, we take a look at England’s likely playing XI in Dharamsala. There are talks of Ollie Robinson being dropped with Gus Atkinson replacing him in the XI.

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England Playing 11 vs India, 5th Test, 2024

Zak Crawley

Zak Crawley will continue to open the batting for England. He is their leading run-getter in the series so far with 328 runs at an average of 41. The England team management has stuck with Crawley since Ashes 2023.

Ben Duckett

Duckett will open the batting along with Crawlwy. He has also scored over 300 runs in the series and has blown hot and cold since his century in the third Test in Rajkot.

Pope will bat at three. He had had a torrid time in the series since his 196 in the first Test in Hyderabad. Since then, he has scored 23, 23, 39, 3, 0 and 0.

Joe Root

Joe Root will bat at four. He came back to form with a century in the fourth Test in Ranchi playing orthodox cricket. That was his 10th Test ton against India. Root now has scored over 200 runs in the series so far.

Jonny Bairstow

Jonny Bairstow has struggled with the bat in the series so far averaging just 21. The next Test match is his 100th for England and he will look to make it a special one. Bairstow has scored 170 runs across 8 innings.

Ben Stokes

Stokes as captain has struggled with the bat. There were talks of him bowling in Ranchi that did not happen. His captaincy was praised by many. The England skipper 3 and 4 in the two innings at Ranchi.

Ben Foakes (WK)

Ben Foakes will bat at seven. His keeping has been very good in the series so far and he has contributed with key scores with the bat. He has scored 173 runs in 8 innings averaging 21.62.

Tom Hartley

Hartley is the highest wicket-taker in the series so far, He has taken 20 wickets in four matches at an average of 33.45 and has also bowled the most number of overs in the Test series (211).

Shoaib Bashir

Bashir will bat at nine. He played just two Test matches and has already taken 12 wickets. He took 8 wickets in the last Test including his maiden fifer.

James Anderson

Anderson will bat at number 10. The veteran pacer had had a tough tour of India this time around not taking too many wickets. He has taken just 8 in three Test matches so far. He is three short of 150 Test wickets against India.

Gus Atkinson

Atkinson might replace Ollie Robinson in the final Test in Dharamsala. He has played nine Test matches and three T20IS for England so far.

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