*Bumrah set to miss fifth Test at Oval, Akash Deep likely replacement: Report
London, July 30:
India’s prospects of signing off the UK tour with some serious bragging rights brightened by a few notches on the eve of fifth Test with England’s talismanic skipper Ben Stokes and pacer Jofra Archer rendered unavailable for the game starting Thursday.
Stokes, the inspirational skipper who pushed the limits of his body while bowling in the last two Tests, was ruled out with a muscle tear on his right shoulder while comeback man Archer was rested after the workload of playing in back-to-back matches.
Pacer Brydon Carse and left-arm spinner Liam Dawson have also been rested.
There are players whose mere presence makes a difference and the England skipper, a world class all-rounder with 304 runs and 17 wickets in the series, is one such character.
What the English team will miss most at The Oval is his inspirational presence when the chips are down and showing the way how it is done.
Stand-in captain Ollie Pope will have his task cut out as the Indian team, even without Jasprit Bumrah, is expected to go for the kill.
The series, played in front of packed crowds, has also been a perfect advert for Test cricket with all four games stretching to the final session on day five.
Not to forget the skirmishes along the way that have spiced it up enough for the fans of the game’s traditional format.
From Shubman Gill’s tirade against Zak Crawley for “deliberately” wasting time at Lord’s to Ravindra Jadeja refusing to call off proceedings on the final day at Old Trafford, things couldn’t have gotten hotter before the series entered the final phase in sweltering London.
Gautam Gambhir, who is always up for a scrap, has only intensified it with his altercation with Oval curator Lee Fortis two days before the game.
In this backdrop, expect the series finale to go down to the wire as India under the ever-improving Gill has a chance to land a killer blow on an English team whose bowling attack will undergo a sea-change with no specialist spinner in the playing XI.
Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton, the two Surrey players, who know The Oval track like the back of their palms, will be joining forces with Chris Woakes and Josh Tongue to make it a four-pronged attack.
With Woakes being the only bowler who has remained constant from first to fifth Test, England are giving indications of continuing with their Bazball way, having inducted a specialist heavy duty hitter in Jacob Bethell.
In his first series as captain of a team undergoing a major transition, Gill has led from the front and with 722 runs so far, he is only 52 shy off Sunil Gavaskar’s record of most runs by an Indian in a single rubber.
He needs another 11 runs to surpass Gavaskar’s record of most runs (732) by an Indian captain in a Test series (1978-79 vs West Indies).
The 25-year-old has come of age with four hundreds thus far including a double century and a match-saving 103 in the previous Test at Old Trafford. After low returns in three innings, Gill played the most defining knock of his career in Manchester to enhance his reputation, not just as a batter but also as a captain.
Having played a massive role in earning a famous draw from an almost hopeless situation, Gill and his team go into the match with momentum on their side but gaps to fill.
Teams:
England: 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: Shubman Gill (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav, Anshul Kamboj, Arshdeep Singh, N Jagadeesan (WK). (PTI)
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