India's bid to win a 17th consecutive home Test series, however, hinges on the success of their three-pronged spin attack comprising Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
Opener Ben Duckett hit the most defining century of his career, exposing an out-of-depth Indian attack as England comfortably chased down a tricky target of 371 to win the opening Test by five wickets.
Pope, one of the heroes for England in Hyderabad, feels that a wicket offering good turn will provide them with wicket-taking options.
In the absence of the injured Ollie Pope, big-hitting Harry Brook has been promoted to No 3 in what is a must-win Test for the hosts.
Wood has so far played two matches in the ongoing series
South Africa trail by 439 runs and will need to bat for much of the weekend to stay in the contest and avoid going 2-1 behind in the four-Test series.
India skipper Rohit Sharma lamented his top batmen's failure in the opening Test of the five-match series against England in Hyderabad on Sunday, saying they lacked the fight and character showed by the team's lower-order batters after being set a "gettable" 231-run target.
'It wasn't easy because there is no real escape, you cannot go out for coffee, or for dinner or you cannot see your family and you think about your failures a little more than normal.'
'What I like about them is their stubbornness. If you doubt them, they'll double down on it and go even more stubborn.'
Ollie Pope embodied England's 'Bazball' making a 196 filled with sweeps, reverse sweeps and reverse scoops during the first Test, and India head coach Rahul Dravid admitted they will have to counter the unorthodox approach to make a comeback into the series.
'Stokes is an excellent player of fast bowling. He is hurried with Bumrah.'
Woakes returned to the test squad for the first time since July 2023 in what will be England pace great James Anderson's farewell series.
England Cricket Board (ECB) on Wednesday named the playing eleven for the third Test match against India in Rajkot, with pacer Mark Wood replacing Shoaib Bashir in the playing squad.
England spinner Rehan Ahmed has been added to the Ashes squad for the second Test against Australia.
Root rescues England with controlled century in India
Harry Brook continued his remarkable form in New Zealand with a second century of the series to drive England to 280 before the tourists reduced the Black Caps to 86 for 5 at the close of play on Friday, the first day of the second Test.
Bumrah finished with figures of 6 for 45 -- his 10th five wicket haul in Test cricket -- while also becoming the fastest Indian pacer to take 150 Test wickets.
Akash Deep, India's latest debutant, put on an exhibition of clever bowling in his opening spell on Day 1 of the fourth Test in Ranchi to rock the England batting.
Indian conditions up there with the hardest: Ben Foakes
England have named an unchanged squad for the first two Tests of the five-match Ashes series against Australia.
England named all-rounder Chris Woakes and batsman Ollie Pope on Tuesday in their squad for the final Test against India which will be Alastair Cook's last international appearance.
Tongue is the only change to the side that lost the first Ashes Test
This was India's seventh defeat in their last nine matches as their poor run in Test cricket continues following successive series defeats against New Zealand at home and in Australia.
England will not change their attacking philosophy in the second Ashes Test against Australia at Lord's this week.
Having conceded a lead of 259, England were all out for 195 in the second session on day three of the contest.
Kuldeep Yadav wrecked England's top order and fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin polished off the tail to bundle out England in just over two sessions.
Across five fiercely contested Tests, more than 7,000 runs were scored, including a record-equalling 21 individual centuries. Every match stretched into a gripping fifth day. The sun shone, the stands were full, and the cricket -- emotional, enthralling, and endlessly unpredictable -- captured imaginations around the world.
England finally faced some resistance from New Zealand in the shape of Tom Blundell's defiant century but dismissed the Black Caps for 259 to wrap up a thumping 323-run victory on the third day of the second Test on Sunday.
England on Monday named four specialist spinners, including the uncapped duo of Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir, in the 16-member squad for next month's five-Test series in India.
Opener Ben Duckett smashed an 88-ball hundred to lead England's robust reply to India's first innings total of 445 on day two of the third Test in Rajkot on Friday.
Ollie Pope scored an unbeaten 91 and Jos Buttler contributed a half century as England took advantage of a tired West Indies attack to move to 258 for four on Friday when bad light brought play to a premature end on the opening day of the final Test in Manchester.
We have plans to counter England's aggression, worked on sweep shot: K S Bharat
'This is his first tour and he is travelling with me. I am excited to see him.'
England getting bamboozled on turning tracks is no longer a "foregone conclusion" and the shock loss in the opening Test has given India a lot to think about ahead of the second game, says visiting team's pace ace Mark Wood.
Images from Day 2 of the second Test between India and England at Visakhapatnam.
Images from Day 2 of the fourth Test between England and India, at The Oval, on Friday.
England stuck to their gameplan in the second innings, attacking the spinners at every opportunity as the Indians came undone and clearly looked bereft of ideas.
Former England white-ball captain Collingwood told reporters they would not worry too much about the disappointing first day.
England became the first team to win a Test by an innings after conceding more than 500 runs in their first innings.
Amidst a challenging tour of India, England finds themselves in the serene embrace of Dharamsala for the final Test.
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