IND Vs ENG, 5th Test: Will Marcus Trescothick, Paul Collingwood Take The Field As Subs?

In the absence of senior pros like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, the youngsters are coming to the party and making the best use of this opportunity to eke out a place in the core squad. In the midst of all this, the English are struggling and with the series already lost, are perhaps just waiting for the tour to be over and head back home or to their respective IPL franchises.

On top of that, unforeseen exigencies have compounded Ben Stokes' woes, so much so that coaching staff members Marcus Trescothick and Paul Collingwood have now been listed as substitute fielders. Seamer Ollie Robinson has taken ill and rookie spinner Rehan Ahmed returned home earlier owing to personal reasons, which means the English squad was down to 13 men.

Resultantly, former internationals Trescothick and Collingwood were named as sub-fielders. It will be quite a sight if one or both of them do happen to take the field at some stage in the match. It has been 18 years since Trescothick last played a Test match for England, while Collingwood's top-flight red-ball career concluded at the Sydney Cricket Ground five years hence.

Nevertheless, both ex-cricketers were more than competent fielders in their heyday, with Collingwood taking 96 catches in 68 Tests, and Trescothick taking 95 catches in 76 Test appearances. The coaching staff members did their bit to prepare as well, training for slip-fielding ahead of the match.

As for the game situation, India lead by 255 runs at the end of Day 2, with two wickets still in hand and Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav at the crease. Earlier, Ravichandran Ashwin - playing his 100th Test - and Kuldeep had together scalped nine wickets to bowl the visitors out for a sub-par total of 218 in the first innings.