The Indian cricket team will take on England in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham starting from July 1.

With India leading the five-match Test series 2-1, the visitors are looking to at least salvage a draw in order to clinch their first Test series win on English soil since 2007.

The much-anticipated Edgbaston Test is part of India’s tour of England last year, which was postponed indefinitely after rising COVID-19 cases in the Indian camp. The fifth Test was earlier scheduled to be played at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Last year, England and India played out a draw in the first Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham before the Virat Kohli-led tourists secured a massive 151-run victory in the second Test at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

However, Joe Root’s England bounced back strongly in the third Test to thrash India by an innings and 76 runs to level the series 1-1 at Headingley in Leeds.

In the fourth Test at Kennington Oval in London, Kohli’s men brought their A-game as they defeated England by 157 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Ahead of the rescheduled fifth Test, India will miss the services of new Test captain Rohit Sharma, who has been ruled out after testing COVID-19 positive once again on Thursday morning.

In the absence of Rohit, BCCI has announced that fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah will lead India in the Edgbaston Test. Bumrah will become India’s 36th Test captain and the first pacer since legendary Kapil Dev to captain India in Test cricket.

Wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant has been named India’s vice-captain for the upcoming Test.

On the other hand, new England Test captain Ben Stokes has already announced their playing XI for the Edgbaston Test.

Veteran fast bowler James Anderson returns to the playing XI after missing England’s third Test against New Zealand due to a left ankle injury. Anderson will replace fellow pacer Jamie Overton.

Wicket-keeper batter Sam Billings has also retained his place after regular keeper Ben Foakes failed to make a full recovery from a stiff back and COVID-19 positive result.

Hosts England will be brimming with confidence after whitewashing World Test Championship (WTC) holders New Zealand 3-0 in the recently-concluded Test series.

Meanwhile, Bumrah-led India will look to either win or draw the fifth Test at Edgbaston to clinch a Test series in England for just the fourth time. India have won a Test series in England in 1971, 1986 and 2007.

England playing XI: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (captain), Sam Billings (wicket-keeper), Matthew Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach and James Anderson

India's Test squad: Jasprit Bumrah (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain/wicket-keeper), KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna and Mayank Agarwal

The fifth Test will start at 3:00 PM IST (Indian Standard Time) at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham.