India look to close out the series with a 4-0

Chennai: India will take on England in the fifth and final Test of the five-match series at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai.

After beating England in the fourth Test at Mumbai, India have sealed the series in their favour and will look to end with a win.

On the other hand, England must be looking for to end the series on a positive note by winning the final one. Despite this being a dead rubber, one can expect an exciting contest between these two teams as India are in no mood of mercy, while England will play for pride.

More so will be the return of Test cricket to Chennai after more than three years. However, Cyclone Vardah has hogged all the limelight leading up to the match and the relevant authorities are now working tirelessly to ensure that everything is in order.

As with any high-profile defeat, England's series loss has been met with resentment back home. While Alastair Cook's position as skipper may not be under any imminent threat, there are already murmurs pointing towards Joe Root's availability as a suitable candidate.

A victory, howsoever unlikely, could brighten the mood around their camp to a significant extent. Since they do not have any Tests scheduled till their home season starts in July, the prospect of a long break from the game's traditional format might allow them to play without any pressure.

With Mohammed Shami and Wriddhiman Saha not available for this Test as well, India are expected to retain the same playing eleven. On the other hand, England could try quite a few things depending on their inclination towards experiments.

First among those could be Jos Buttler taking up the gloves and Jonny Bairstow moving up the batting order to elongate his output. But, the more likelier change should see the uncapped Liam Dawson replacing one of the seamers. Chris Woakes' position as a bowling all-rounder is becoming rather untenable in these conditions and the left-arm spinner may offer a better solution.

Teams from

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Bhuvenshwar Kumar

England: Alastair Cook (capt), Keaton Jennings, Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Jos Buttler (wk), Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes, Steven Finn, James Anderson, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Gareth Batty, Stuart Broad, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett

Pitch and conditions
With the weather wreaking havoc in the city, the nature of the playing surface remains a big mystery. Traditionally, Chennai has always aided spinners with seamers finding ways to exploit reverse-swing on the hard pitch.

Stats and trivia

• Jonny Bairstow needs 80-run to complete 1500 Test run in 2016.
• Alastair Cook needs just two runs to become the tenth batsman in Test history to complete 11,000 runs.
• Moeen Ali needs three wickets to reach 100 in Tests.
• If they remain unbeaten in Chennai, India will extend their undefeated Test match streak to 18 games and thus create a new national record. They remained unbeaten in 17 consecutive Tests from September 1985 to March 1987.
• If India win, it will be their ninth Test victory in 2016. This would be their best ever haul in a calendar year beating the 8 Test victories that they had obtained in 2010.
• If England lose this Test, then this will be their 8th defeat in 2016, their joint-most losses in a calendar year, along with 1984, 1986 and 1993.
• Virat Kohli needs 83 runs will make him the highest run-getter as an Indian batsman in a Test series. Sunil Gavaskar holds the current record with 774 runs against West Indies in 1970-71.

Match facts
16-20 December 2016
Start time 0930 local (0400 GMT)