India's premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will be eyeing a memorable outing in his landmark 100th Test when the unassailable hosts face a fallen England in the finale of what has been a riveting five-match series, here on Thursday.
India maintained their envious record at home by sealing the series in Ranchi and now, they will be looking for another favourable result to extend their lead in World Test Championships standings.
Weather update
The pitch and the cold weather, that is making the English feel at home, have been the two big talking points going into the game.
The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 10 degrees for the opening two days before rising over the weekend.
Pitch report
The pitch wore a flat look on the eve of the game but the moisture seeped underneath will keep the pacers interested in the early hours of play on all days.
Though traditionally, the venue favours fast bowlers, the role of spinners can't be discounted and they did play a big part in India's win over Australia in the one and only Test played here back in 2017.
In the recently held four Ranji Trophy games, the teams were able to score 300 plus on multiple occasions with the highest total of the season being 482 posted by Baroda.
When & where to watch Dharamsala Test?
The fifth and final Test will be played at the HPCA stadium in Dharamsala from March 7. Fans can tune into the Jio Cinema mobile application or website to live stream the match while television viewers will have to watch the clash on the Sports18 channels.
The match will start at 9.30 am IST, half-an-hour after the toss.
Squads:
India: 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.
England XI: Ben Stokes (C), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson, Shoaib Bashir.
