India and England players will push their tired bodies on the line with everything to play for in the fifth and final Test starting at The Oval on Thursday
Joe Root will play his 100th game against India, the same opposition he made his debut against, at the Chepauk from February 5.
The five-match Test series against India at home will be a massive Test for England's 'Bazball' brand of cricket under skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
Images from Day 2 of the fifth Test between England and India at The Oval, London, on Friday.
Shubman Gill scored a record-breaking 269 and their seamers struck early to put the tourists in a commanding position at Edgbaston on Thursday.
As India prepares for a much-anticipated five-match Test series in England, memories of the thrilling 2021 tour still linger, especially for Shardul Thakur, who played a pivotal role in that campaign.
England were comfortably placed at 225 for two at stumps after bowling out India for 358 on the second day of the fourth Test in Manchester on Thursday.
Pain, Punt and Pant: Keeper of India's fortune fights back with broken foot
'Shubman Gill did not look as technically tight or calm as usual when he came out to bat on the fourth evening, but his team fought so hard on Monday in a fabulous Test.'
India's historic first-ever Test win at Edgbaston by a massive 336 runs after losing the first Test was a triumph of Grit, Resilience, Excellence, Aggressiveness, and Tactfulness, a truly GREAT performance that will be remembered for years, asserts veteran cricket correspondent K R Nayar.
India equal England's first-innings score of 387 with Test in balance
Led by Shubman Gill, a defiant India put on a mentally strong and technically disciplined response to keep the series alive with England 2-1 up. While there were plenty of positives to take forward, a few concerns continue to linger as the series heads to a decider at The Oval.
A superb unbeaten century from Ollie Pope helped drag England back into the first Test against India at Headingley on Saturday, with the home side closing Day 2 on 209/3.
Pant now has three Test centuries on English soil.
England captain Joe Root pipped Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Pakistan's Shaheen Afridi to claim the International Cricket Council's Player of the Month honours for August following his batting heroics in the recent Test series against India.
Images from Day 4 of the second Test between England and India at Edgbaston, in Birmingham, on Saturday.
Kohli's Test retirement makes Tendulkar's record of 100 centuries 'safe'
Stokes, the leading wicket-taker of the series with 17 scalps, will be a mere spectator at The Oval, robbing the series finale of his charismatic on-field presence.
'What a player he is. He bowls, bats and executes a crucial run out of Rishabh Pant but there is no talk of workload management. But with India it is not like that.'
Captain Shubman Gill and the ever-dependable K L Rahul gave India a glimmer of hope with resilient half-centuries after a well crafted hundred from Ben Stokes extended England's supremacy in the fourth Test in Manchester on Saturday.
The five-match Test series against India at home is a massive test for England's 'Bazball' brand of cricket under skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
England captain Ben Stokes went on to call Jofra Archer an 'incredibly gifted cricketer', irrespective of the colour of the ball in his hand.
Ravindra Jadeja continues to reign supreme at the top of the ICC Men's Test Player Rankings for all-rounders, but his lead has narrowed following a stellar performance from Bangladesh's Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
An injury-plagued India could be forced to depart from their preferred template when they takes on a reinvigorated England in the fourth Test starting in Manchester on Wednesday.
British media reports said all 10 English players involved with the IPL will hold a meeting with the Professional Cricketers' Association over security arrangements for a potential return to India.
'There's always some calculated thinking behind it.'
India finished day three of the second Test on 64/1 to lead England by 244 runs after they dismissed the hosts for 407 in the first innings at Edgbaston on Friday.
With the series nicely poised at 1-1 going into the third Test, the narrative built around both the teams has changed significantly following India's 336-run routing of England at Edgbaston.
Shubman Gill played a masterful captain's knock with his second century of the series on the opening day of the second Test
England have named two uncapped players in Essex duo Sam Cook and Jordan Cox in the squad for the one-off Test match against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge later this month.
Joe Root was named 'Test Player of the Year', 'Limited Overs Player of the Year' and Fans' 'Player of the Year' at England's annual awards ceremony on Monday. The Yorkshire batsman, 25, hit two centuries in England's Ashes triumph last year, scored four one-day tons and was his team's leading scorer at the recent World Twenty20 tournament in India. He overcame competition from Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes for the Test award and edged Jos Buttler and David Willey in the Limited Overs category, with both prizes decided upon by a media poll.
Embattled England captain Jos Buttler will spend the next few weeks analyzing whether he is "part of the problem or the solution" before taking a call on his future as the team's leader following the Champions Trophy ouster after a stunning defeat to Afghanistan.
Who do you think should be part of the Indian team for the fifth Test against England?
IMAGES from Day 2 of the 1st Test between England and India at Headingley in Leeds on Saturday.
Ahead of England's five-match Test series against India at home, head coach Brendon McCullum hailed young all-rounder Jacob Bethell
As the battle for semi-final berths intensifies in Group B, top-ranked South Africa will aim to assert their dominance and secure a spot in the final four when they face a struggling England in a high-stakes Champions Trophy clash in Karachi on Saturday.
Can Shubman Gill and his men rewrite the script once more? The answer begins unrolling on July 23.
England skipper Joe Root has been more like a little boy than a leader under the immense pressure of the Ashes series and must step up, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has said.
IMAGES from the ICC Champions Trophy Group B match between Afghanistan and England at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on Wednesday.
'With the amount of Test cricket in particular this year, didn't feel like it was the right time'
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