Riding high after forcing a draw against a frustrated England in the 4th Test at Old Trafford in Manchester, the Indian cricket team would be looking to draw the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series when they take on Ben Stokes and his men in the 5th Test at The Oval from Thursday.
The Shubman Gill-led side has dominated England but still trail 1-2 because the hosts have won the key moments.
The biggest selection dilemma facing the Indians would be whether their pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will be available for the Test or not. Before the series, it was made clear by Gautam Gambhir & Co. that due to workload pressure, Bumrah would play only three Tests during the series.
Bumrah took 5 wickets in the first Test at Headingley, Leeds, but England won by 5 wickets. Bumrah sat out of the second Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham and India won by 336 runs to level the series 1-1. The pacer came back to play the third and fourth Tests at Lord’s and Manchester respectively and is India’s highest wicket-taker with 14 scalps. Mohammed Siraj has also taken 14 wickets but he has played all the four Tests in the series.
Much hue and cry has been raised about the exclusion of Kuldeep Yadav in the series. The left-arm spinner hasn’t played any Test on the tour and doesn’t look in the scheme of things of Gambhir & Co. more so now that Washington Sundar hit his maiden Test hundred in the last game to salvage a draw for India.
The top four highest run getters in the series are Indians – captain Shubman Gill, opener KL Rahul, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja – but the problem of who will bat at the No. 3 spot still persists.
Karun Nair, who made a comeback into the Indian team after 8 years, has failed to convert his starts and was replaced by Sai Sudharsan in the last Test. Sudharsan top scored for India in the first innings at Old Trafford, but fell for a first ball duck in the second essay. Will Nair be back for the last Test or will India retain Sudharsan will be known only at the toss on Thursday.
Pant will miss The Oval Test due to a foot fracture and N Jagadeesan has been added to the Indian squad as a replacement, though Dhruv Jurel will be taking Pant’s place in the Indian XI.
England have been led brilliantly by the talismanic Stokes, who is the leading wicket-taker in the series with 17 scalps and has also smashed a hundred with the bat. A bowling attack led by Jofra Archer, and aided by Chris Woakes, Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, apart from Stokes himself, England have added pace bowling all-rounder Jamie Overton to the squad, with a green top expected at The Oval.
India don’t have a great record at The Oval, having played 15 Tests at the London ground having won only 2, losing 6, with 7 ending in draws.
The last time that they played at The Oval, India lost the WTC Final against Australia in June 2023. But in their last clash against England at the picturesque ground in 2021, the Indians had emerged victorious under the captaincy of Virat Kohli.
Can Shubman Gill do an encore?
Teams (from):
India: Shubman Gill (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav, Anshul Kamboj, Arshdeep Singh, N Jagadeesan (WK)
England: Ben Stokes (Captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes
