England vs India, 5th Test, Oval – Match Preview

In the last two Test matches of the Anderson-Tendulkar series, there have been some heated words exchanged between the two teams, which makes the series decider at the Kennington Oval all the more interesting. England are leading 2-1 in the series after the visitors were able to salvage a draw at Old Trafford.

The fact that England captain Ben Stokes has been ruled out of the fifth Test due to a shoulder injury, is a big blow for the home team. Stokes was the leading wicket-taker of the series with 17 scalps and looked the most threatening English bowler. Furthermore, Stokes had scored a fine knock of 141 at Manchester.

Jacob Bethell has been added to the team in Stokes’ place whereas Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, and Josh Tongue are the other changes in place of Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, and Byrdon Carse.

On the other hand, India’s gun fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is expected to be rested in the series’ final Test to manage his workload. Akash Deep might replace Anshul Kamboj, whereas Arshdeep Singh can also make his debut. Kuldeep Yadav can also play his first match of the series, and he can replace Shardul Thakur in the playing XI.

India’s batters have delivered in the first four matches, which should push the team’s think to play with four specialist bowlers and not lose sleep over batting depth.

Head to Head: Matches: 140, Won by England: 53, Won by India: 37, Drawn: 51.

England’s Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue

India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Dhruv Jurel(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Anshul Kamboj, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Karun Nair, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, N Jagadeesan, Arshdeep Singh, Akash Deep

England Squad: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope(c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue, Liam Dawson, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer