Heading into the fifth and final Test with England leading the series 2-1, India have had plenty of moments where they could have snatched at least another win.
Young captain Shubman Gill must be disappointed that these moments were lost due to controllable factors such as poor catching, inadequate running, and poor defensive decisions.
A younged team should be brilliant on the field, run well and take bold decisions like playing a potential match-winning bowler in Kuldeep Yadav rather than settling for a “on-paper balancer” like Shardul Thakur.
Looking at how well India have batted in this series, Gill and coach Gautum Gambhir should have gambled with a world-class wrist spinner at No.8 rather than a bits and pieces player like Thakur or even NK Reddy.
While Shubman reflects on what could have been, the English players and coach Brendon McCullum must thank their captain Ben Stokes, who played a big part in the hosts winning the decisive moments in the Lord’s Test.
He bowled long and testing spells, picked up key wickets and then effected the match-turning run-out of Rishabh Pant.
Apart from the odd spell of Jofra Archer at Lord’s, no English bowler was as threatening as Stokes. This statement about Stokes’s bowling could be true for all series rather than just the Lord’s Test.
The marginal superiority of England’s on-field performance, bowling and fielding, has given them this 2-1 lead. If India turn the tables on England at the Oval, they must do better than England on the field.
The Oval pitch has historically been a balanced one with good bounce and carry that helps the seamers and spinners alike. At the same time, the predictable bounce allows batters to play fluently on this pitch.
In the recent county championships, matches have produced tons of runs, and the same story could continue in the test match as well.
India’s Kuldeep Yadav appeals. (David Davies/PA via AP)
India must gamble with a wrist-spinner. Thakur, despite his good record at the Oval, offers no game-breaking ability with the ball or the bat.
Kuldeep has the potential to break the game with a match-winning spell. Considering how tired and innocuous the fast-bowling contingent appeared in the Old Trafford Test, Kuldeep is the answer.
He has proven himself to be tough to dislodge with the bat on fair batting pitches, such as his partnerships in the 2024 England vs India series, notably with Dhurv Jurel in the Ranchi Test, his nightwatcher duty in the Rajkot Test, and his long innings in the Chittagong Test vs Bangladesh alongside Ravichandran Ashwin.
Anshul Khamboj bowled poorly in Manchester and will need to make way for Akash Deep or Prasidh Krishna, depending on the fitness of Akash. Trying Arshdeep Singh is another option that Gill might flirt with in place of Anshul, if Akash is unfit to play.
In the batting department, India will have a forced change due to Rishabh’s injury. Jurel will be the automatic choice and will probably bat at No.7. Considering how well Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja have batted in this series, I will not be surprised if the top six batters for the Oval test will be the same order as what we saw in the second innings at Old Trafford.
My Indian XI for the Oval: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudarshan, Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhurv Jurel, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep/Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
