England wins by toss and bat first over India

England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and decided to bat first against India in the fifth and final cricket Test in Dharamsala.

India has already taken a 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

They won the second Test in Visakhapatnam by 106 runs, the third in Rajkot by 434 runs and the fourth Test in Ranchi by five wickets to claim the series.

For India, Ravichandran Ashwin is playing his 100th Test. He has taken 507 wickets – surpassing the 500 mark in Rajkot – while also scoring 3,309 runs, including five hundreds, in his Test career.

India made two changes from the last match. Left-handed batsman Devdutt Padikkal made his Test debut and replaced Rajat Patidar in the middle order.

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah also returns after being rested for the fourth Test in place of Akash Deep. Bumrah took 17 wickets in three matches in the series.

England made one change, with paceman Mark Wood coming on for Ollie Robinson. Jonny Bairstow also makes his 100th Test appearance – Bairstow has scored 5,974 runs in his Test career, including 12 centuries.

The pitch at the picturesque HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala should be good for the players over the first two days. The Spin will be triggered as the game progresses, and players are expected to find early help due to the morning conditions in the mountainous area.

India: Yashavi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Gurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah.

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