The Analyst says that India - led by the phenomenal Virat Kohli - should have enough to ensure a 4-0 series victory...
What happens in this last Test is anyone’s guess.
It is a dead rubber now.
Both teams have injuries – inevitable after such an intense, tightly-scheduled series – and a cyclone in Chennai has interrupted preparations.
In some ways, that is not a bad thing. Players have too many nets these days.
England will be without Jimmy Anderson – injuries and fatigue are affecting him more and more.
That is the problem with being a 33-year-old fast bowler.
Stuart Broad is also still uncertain of his fitness, though with six months until England play another Test match, he has plenty of time to recover afterwards.
He will probably play, in harness with Jake Ball who was England’s most impressive seamer in Mumbai.
The omnipresent Ben Stokes will complete the seam attack.
England might be inclined to play a third spinner – the newly-arrived Liam Dawson – in place of the weary Chris Woakes.
They certainly won’t make the mistake of playing four seamers in India again.
All the problems in selection surround the inconsistency of the two main spinners – Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali.
If they were more reliable, England wouldn’t need the fourth seamer or the third spinner.
Though Javant Yadav, a spinner who is capable of making a Test hundred, has been a serendipitous discovery for India.
India will most likely field the same team.
Mohammed Shami still hasn’t recovered from injury, but the three spinners will again do the bulk of the work.
The only Indian player who hasn’t really produced anything in the series is opener KL Rahul. It has been a real team effort.
For that reason, it’s hard to see England winning.
The batting has grown stronger with the emergence of fourth-Test centurion Keaton Jennings – and Jos Buttler’s performances at No.7.
But Moeen Ali still looks too high at No.4 and, with the spinners so hit and miss, it is hard to see how England can take 20 wickets.
Alastair Cook lacks a potent bowler in these conditions, and also the imagination to conjure wickets in adverse circumstances.
Virat Kohli, on the other hand, is a driven man with an excellent attack.
He has a desire to both score the record number of runs in a series by an Indian captain – he needs 93 to overtake Sunil Gavaskar’s 732 – and also to finish off an ailing foe.
A 4-0 win would mean India would have lasted the entire year unbeaten in Tests, ensuring an annus mirabilis for him.
He has so far scored 2540 runs in 36 international matches at an average of 88.96.
Phenomenal.
