England announced their playing XI for the fifth and final Test against India which is scheduled to start from March 7 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala.
Stokes brings in Mark Wood
Ben Stokes-led England made one big change to their playing XI as they brought in Mark Wood and dropped Ollie Robinson.
Wood's last appearance in this series was in the third Test at Rajkot, where he failed to pick a single wicket in the second innings, despite taking four wickets in the first innings. Also during the series opener in Hyderabad, Wood remained wicket-less in both the innings.
Robinson faces ouster after flop show in Ranchi Test
Meanwhile talking about Ollie Robinson, in his sole appearance in the five-match series during the fourth Test in Ranchi, he did not take any wickets.
Despite not claiming any wickets and conceding over four runs per over in the first innings, he contributed a valuable 58 runs batting at no. 9.
In the second innings, as India pursued a target of 192 runs for victory, Robinson was not given the opportunity to bowl, with England opting to rely primarily on its trio of spinners.
Notably, after an unexpected defeat in the first Test in Hyderabad, India went on to win the next three matches, taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series.
England's Playing XI for 5th Test against India
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson, Shoaib Bashir.
India's squad for 5th Test against England
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.
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