England vs India: 5th Test, September 10, 2021

It is the fifth and final Test match of the Pataudi Trophy and it brings to an end a long English summer for the Indian team. They arrived in the United Kingdom (UK) back in June for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Virat Kohli and co may have lost that title match but they now have a chance to rewrite history as they look to record India’s first Test series win in England since 2007. Meanwhile, England recently lost a Test series against New Zealand earlier this summer which was their first Test series loss at home since 2014. They have never lost two successive Test series’ at home in the 21^st century and will want to keep that intact.

India have been quite good throughout this series. The batting responsibility has been largely shouldered by the openers – Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul who have been the standout batters for the visitors. Meanwhile, the middle-order has been inconsistent but skipper Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara have chipped in with some crucial runs in the last couple of games. Rishabh Pant also got some runs in the second innings of the fourth Test which should give him some confidence. Meanwhile, the bowling has been outstanding and they are the ones that have created headlines.

On the other hand, England won the third Test at Headingley comprehensively but apart from that they have blown hot and cold. The batting has heavily relied on skipper Joe Root. If he has got runs, England have got a big score, else they have tended to crumble under pressure. Meanwhile, the bowling has been good but the workload of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson has been quite a lot and their fitness will be tested in this fifth Test.

However, England are a tough side to beat at home and India have found that out the hard way as well. Thus, they are slight favourites as far as the betting odds are concerned. They have their odds placed at 2.87 while India have the winning odds of 3.25.

England and India have squared off in 130 Test matches. England have a better head-to-head record and are well ahead with 49 wins. On the other hand, India have won 31 Test matches and as many as 50 of them have ended in a draw. However, in England, India’s record has been on the rise. They won two Test matches in this series which takes their tally to nine. Moreover, this is only the second time that India have won multiple (more than one) Test matches in a series in England (the other instance was in 1986 when they won the series 2-0).