Toss streak hits 15 as India lose again at The Oval
India’s run of poor luck at the toss continued in dramatic fashion at The Oval, with captain Shubman Gill losing his fifth consecutive toss of the series — marking India’s 15th straight toss defeat in international cricket across formats. England stand-in captain Ollie Pope won the toss and chose to bowl first under overcast skies.
“We’ll bowl. Bit overcast, no-brainer to have a bowl on this pitch,” Pope said after winning the toss. “Lost the captain but the others are tracking nicely, we’ve got a few fresh faces as well. We bat deep, Gus Atkinson and Overton have got runs. We’re not going to contend with 2:2, we want to go out there and win it.”
With England leading 2-1 in the five-match series, the final Test presents India with a chance to level the series — but they’ll have to do it with a restructured side and without their pace spearhead.
Jasprit Bumrah rested, Shardul dropped as India ring changes
Jasprit Bumrah’s absence was the biggest headline in India’s playing XI. As part of a workload management plan, the pacer was always expected to sit out two Tests this series. Having already played three, the team followed through with the rest, despite the high-stakes nature of the final match.
Shubman Gill confirmed the changes at the toss. “Don’t mind losing the toss as long as we win the game. Was a bit confused yesterday about what to do, was a bit overcast but the wicket looks good, we’ll look to post good runs in the first innings. Should be a good pitch for the bowlers. We’ve got three changes. Jurel, Karun and Prasidh in for Pant, Shardul and Bumrah. We look for a win every game we play, we’ve come close and it’s about that 5-10% extra push, boys will be giving it their all,” Gill said at the toss.
Gill, however, appeared to omit the fourth change — Akash Deep coming in for Anshul Kamboj — meaning India had made four total changes, not three.
Pujara questions team balance and omission of Shardul
The decision to drop Shardul Thakur in favor of Karun Nair raised questions, especially given the seamer-friendly conditions. Cheteshwar Pujara, speaking to the broadcasters, openly criticized the call and highlighted the bowling imbalance.
“They should have gone with Shardul. And all the other batters have been scoring runs, so why do you need an extra batter? I mean, I know there is enough grass on this pitch, but you still, as Michael was saying, you need to take 20 wickets, and how do you do that? You don’t have Jasprit in this game, who is the front-line bowler. So you have got Prasidh and Akash, who hasn’t played the last game. So Siraj just started. So you just have 3 seamers. You need an extra seamer.”
Pujara further elaborated on the need for an all-round option in English conditions.
“And maybe you can’t go with 4 seamers because if Arshdeep was playing this game, then you have 4 seamers, but all 4 can’t bat. So that’s why you, you can’t have 4 seamers. But at the same time, that’s why in English conditions you need an all-rounder and Shardul should be trusted a bit more, and they should have played this game.”
Final playing XIs for the Oval decider
Here’s how both sides lined up for the fifth and final Test:
India Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj.
England 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.
