England win toss, elect to bat against India in 5th Test; Devdutt Padikkal debuts

Dharamsala: England won the toss and elected to bat against India in the fifth and final Test here on Thursday.

Veteran Indian off-spinner R Ashwin will play his 100th Test here, so is England batter Jonny Bairstow.

India also handed Test debut to Karnataka batter Devdutt Padikkal, who had an excellent 2023-24 domestic season. He has come in place of an injured Rajat Patidar.

The BCCI informed that Patidar got a hit on his left ankle during the training here on Wednesday.

“Rajat Patidar got hit on his left ankle during Team India's practice session on March 6, 2024. He pulled up sore on the morning of the game and was not available for selection for the 5th Test,” said the BCCI in a statement.

Leading pacer Jasprit Bumrah is back in India eleven after the management gave him rest in the fourth Test in Ranchi. He has come in place of Akash Deep.

India have taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series.

The Teams: India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Siraj.

England: Ben Stokes (Captain), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes (Wk), Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson, Shoaib Bashir.