Changes India and England can make in the 5th Test

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The five-match Test series between India and England has though already gone into the favour of hosts but both the teams have been playing some phenomenal cricket as each match of series made several turnarounds before producing the final result.

England started the series with two wins in a row, while India made a comeback in the third one. Finally, England triumphed the series by winning the fourth Test at Southampton.

Since the series is already decided, both the teams might opt for several changes to give their benched players a chance as well.

In this article, we tried to guess the changes both the teams can make in the final Test:


#1 India

Karun Nair in place of Ajinkya Rahane

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The man with a triple century to his name in just six Test matches, Karun Nair is one of the exciting batting talents in the country, however, haven't been availed with many chances so far. While Ajinkya Rahane is still not fully recovering from his bad phase as he has just scored 220 runs in the four matches in the series.

The 26-year-old Nair has scored 374 in 7 Test innings at an average of 62. He hasn't played any match in the series yet and might replace Rahane in the final Test.

#1 England

Ollie Pope in place of Jonny Bairstow

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Yorkshire wicketkeeper-batsman, Jonny Bairstow has been recently struggling with both gloves and bat in the series. He faced some minor injury during the third Test, making him play just as a batsman in the fourth one.

Jonny is known for playing aggressively but nothing of that was witnessed in the last two matches, he played. He mere scored 21 runs with two ducks in the second innings of both Nottingham and Southampton Tests.

The recent insertion to England squad, Ollie Pope, young wicket-keeper from Middlesex will probably replace Jonny in the fifth Test.

#2 India

Kl Rahul out, Prithvi Shaw in

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The aggressive Karnataka batsman, Lokesh Rahul who averages 36 in the Test cricket is going through some tough days of his Test career. 4, 13, 8, 10, 23, 36, 19, 0- these have been the scores of Rahul in the series due to which, he could be dropped from the playing XI in the last Test.

He might be replaced by the teenager, Prithvi Shaw who is hitting the headlines consistently since he led India to 2018 U-19 World Cup Victory.

Mumbai batsman has scored 1418 runs in 14 First-class matches, including 7 hundreds and 5 fifties. He was expected to make his debut in the Southampton Test and might finally make it to the final XI in the Oval Test.

#2 England

Ben Stokes out, Chris Woakes in

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All-rounder Chris Woakes has been retained for the fifth Test squad and might play the 5th Test.

The Lords Test hero, Woakes is a stylish all-rounder who strikes with the ball at the regular intervals while equally plays big knocks down the order as well.

He will probably replace, Ben Stokes who scored 23,30 and took 1,2 wickets in the Rose Bowl Test.

#3 India

Umesh Yadav in for Ishant Sharma

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Lanky Ishant Sharma has taken 9 wickets in the three matches, so far in the series. Though the Delhi bowler has done well enough with the ball in last two matches by giving India breakthroughs at the needed times.

Yet, India might try out the quickie Umesh Yadav for the final Test, in order to decide upon the Team for upcoming Australia tour.

Yadav has 106 scalps to his name in the 38 Test matches and is considered and one of the quickest bowlers in the country. He might be seen playing the Oval Test.

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