To beat India in India, England need to outsource Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma and their entire bowling attack, feel Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Manjrekar.
For the visiting England side, the five-match Test series was billed as the biggest test for Bazball. The indomitable Indian side, meanwhile, was given a reminder of the 2012 contest against England, the last Test series they lost on home soil. Little over a month later, the Ben Stokes-led side looked battered and haywire in the face of a depleted Indian side which left former cricketers Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Manjrekar to take a brutal aim at England.
Given the conditions in Dharamsala, England were to feel more at home. And perhaps they did fancy their chances at ending matters on a high in the fifth and final Test match of the series after losing the contest 1-3 against India last week in Ranchi.
The tourists, sparking the 2012 repeat, stunned India in the opener in Hyderabad in January before the home team, without Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Mohammed Shami, roared back to win three in a row and hand England their first loss in the Bazball era.
On Thursday, at the HPCA Stadium, opting to bat first, England did look to get off to a comfortable start at 100 for one just before lunch when Ollie Pope, needlessly, stepped out of the crease to take on Kuldeep Yadav and got stumped. Post lunch, the team suffered a dramatic collapse, losing their final seven wickets for just 43 runs with Kuldeep picking up a five-wicket haul and Ravichandran Ashwin, playing his 100th Test match, snaring four others. England collapsed for just 218 runs.
