Changes India and England can make in the 5th Test
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
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
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.