India v England, fifth Test Day 1 LIVE – Ben Stokes’ tourists look for strong finish to series after defeat

Join us for our live text coverage from 4:00 UK time…

The gloveman (though not today) and batter becomes only the 16th Englishman to reach that number of caps. His family are there, his mum Janet and sister Becky, and it’s an emotional moment. He’s come a long way from Scarborough.

A good toss to win, you’d wager. The pitch looks good, but how’s this for a sporting theatre.

If you’ve just got in, I won’t ask from where. If you’re struggling to sleep, I’ll be pleased to keep you company through the wee hours and for your sake hopefully this first session isn’t so exciting you can’t catch at least a few zzzzzs. If you’ve woken up because, for some unwelcome reason, you have to, I share your pain.

Not that I don’t feel very privileged to be here in front of what promises to be a thrilling final test, as England seek to bookend the series the way they began it all those weeks ago back in January.

Back then the whole winter and great possibility lay in front of us, and while it hasn’t gone the way the barmy army would have wanted, we haven’t exactly been bored, have we?

Mumbai cricket has certainly had the better of Bazball, of which questions have been asked by Chennai spinners, as well as pitches from Rajkot to Ranchi.

It looks like the slow bowlers are going to enjoy a little less time around the wicket in this final test in the stunning location of Dharamsala, but it’s still a little less green a pitch than the captains were expecting.

“3-2 sounds better than 3-1 or 4-1” said Ben Stokes yesterday. In three, four or maybe even five days time, we’ll find out which it’s going to be.

It all starts at 4am UK time, 9.30am.

England have made one change for the fifth Test match against India in Dharamsala, as Mark Wood replaces Ollie Robinson.

Robinson has been struggling with a back problem and did not bowl in India’s second innings, as Wood comes in for the final match that takes place in the Himalayan foothills.

It will be a special occasion for Jonny Bairstow, who becomes only the 17th men’s player to feature in 100 Tests for England.

Spinners Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir both remain in the side despite the cool conditions seemingly favouring the fast bowlers.

England captain Ben Stokes said: “Before we even got here, we thought it was probably going to be a three seam and one spin but turning up yesterday and seeing the wicket and again today, going with two seamers and two spinners is probably the right call.

“We thought there would be a bit more grass on the wicket just because of where we are but overall I think the wicket looks an absolute belter.

“If I was the captain of the one-day team here, I wouldn’t want to win the toss because I wouldn’t know what to do, just because of how good the wicket looks [for batting].

“Playing with two seamers and still having two spinners gives us a good mixture. When you’re a little bit unsure about what it could do as the Test match goes on, I’m confident with the team we’ve gone for.”

Bashir was absent from training on Wednesday due to a stomach issue, but this will not prevent him from taking part in the fifth Test.

The full England team is as follows: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson, Shoaib Bashir.