From Jasprit Bumrah's much-anticipated return to the all-rounder conundrum, the playing XI could very well hold the key to seizing control of this historic series.
India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant are expected to play in the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford starting from July 23.
Shubman Gill had fired a verbal salvo at Zak Crawley during the Lord's Test after he and his opening partner Ben Duckett arrived 90 seconds late to the crease.
Engineer surprised by Kuldeep's omission from 1st Test, says he should be playing all matches
Teenager Eddie Jack's call-up comes at a time when England's pace stocks are depleted with less than 10 days to go for the opening Test.
Sai Sudharsan made his Test debut in the series opener against England, where he played at No. 3 while skipper Shubman Gill batted at No. 4.
The report also indicated that Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal are unlikely to get a call-up to the T20I squad as the team management might not upset the team's core combination.
Although Shubman Gill's return to the T20 side has cast a shadow over Sanju Samson's place in the playing XI for the Asia Cup in the UAE, the hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batter will be counting on head coach Gautam Gambhir, who has often spoken highly of his positive attitude.
Sarfaraz was dropped from the 18-man squad fo the five-match Test tour of England.
South Africa will aim for their first Test victory in India in more than 15 years.
As England and India gear up for the final showdown in the five-match series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Oval, former England speedster Stuart Broad feels the hosts should make some changes to their Playing XI and rest tearaway Jofra Archer.
This brings us to the question of combination and perhaps Arshdeep could miss out on more games going into the T20 World Cup -- a tournament that will be held in the sub-continent -- India and Sri Lanka.
For their next assignment in the ICC World Test Championship cycle, the two-time WTC runners up will aim to grab maximum points across those four home clashes. Here are five key questions the side must answer prior to their next Test match-up.
The 24-year-old Jurel stepped in as keeper twice during the series - once after Pant took a blow to his finger in the third Test at Lord's, and again in the Manchester Test when Pant sustained a foot injury that ruled him out.
Jasprit Bumrah was rested from the second Test at Edgbaston, as part of his workload management.
In the spin department, while seasoned campaigner Deepti Sharma is an automatic choice, it remains to be seen whether India go with both Radha Yadav and Sneh Rana or opt for either one of them.
Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has expressed surprise over Sarfaraz Khan's omission from India A squads for the home series against South Africa, calling the decision unfair.
As India chase history at home in Navi Mumbai, while Laura Wolvaardt's South Africa will look to script their own fairytale, by finally breaking their run of heartbreaks at ICC events.
Who do you think should be part of the Indian team for the fifth Test against England?
Nitish and Shardul were thrown into the playing XI for India A during both unofficial Tests against England Lions, and both all-rounders reaped mixed results across the two contests.
Karun Nair has managed only 131 runs across six innings at a below-par average of 21.83, in the first three Tests against England.
Going into the penultimate game of the rubber, the pressing question is whether to tweak their conservative approach and bolster the spin department by playing left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav at the cost of a spin all-rounder.
'Bumrah bowled brilliantly in both the ODI and T20 World Cups. Siraj is also in the same league. To protect him from injuries'
The beleaguered tourists lined up without their ace bowler in the second contest, Panesar believes India would need to figure out a way to scythe 20 scalps to stand triumphant for the first time in Birmingham.
Karun Nair has got starts in majority of his six innings in England but he has not been able to convert them into something substantial.
India should seriously consider playing Kuldeep but it will be selection dilemma: Harmison
Former England captain Michael Atherton suggested India could include three spinners for the must-win fourth Test against England at Manchester, starting on July 23.
His consistency comes at a crucial time, with stiff competition for a spot in India's Asia Cup XI following Shubman Gill's return as vice-captain, and the inclusion of wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma after a stellar IPL season for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Shivam Dube remains a vital cog in India's T20 set-up and bowling coach Morne Morkel wants the Mumbai all-rounder to step up as a back-up medium pacer ahead of the T20 World Cup, in line with head coach Gautam Gambhir's philosophy of packing the XI with multi-skilled cricketers.
'A couple of weeks ago, did he think he was a chance (to play in Perth)? Potentially not, he was a little bit sore. Then you flip it forward two weeks and there's a lot more positivity. We've still got a little bit to go.'
India have a mounting worry in the lack of runs so far from talismanic Smriti Mandhana, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and the energetic Jemimah Rodrigues.
Spin great Anil Kumble praised Nitish Kumar Reddy's showing with the ball on Day 1 of the Lord's Test on Thursday.
Karun Nair opened up about the relentless effort he put in the last few years to make a comeback to the Indian Test team for the recently-concluded tour of England.
'We obviously want to wheel him in, but we also want to respect where his body's at, and on the basis of that, we just felt that it wasn't worth including him in the squad.'
'Kamboj, Bumrah, Siraj -- that's a serious bowling attack.'
'We won't miss Virat and Rohit. I have faith in our young team.'
All eyes were on pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who participated in the training session, though his availability for the match is a big doubt.
In the team's first session ahead of the third Test, Bumrah seemed to be good spirits, constantly chatting with fellow teammates and at times with the travelling Indian media.
In summary, excluding the inactive innings, his recent conversion record reads rather poor with no half-centuries since his eminent legendary debut knock.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav said that Powerplay overs will be crucial in the five-match T20 International series against Australia.
