The final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is set to commence at 3:30 PM IST today at The Oval, London. England lead the five-match series 2-1 after securing a commendable draw at Old Trafford. Both teams have made several key changes ahead of this highly anticipated decider. Tensions are high following a recent controversy between Indian coach Gautam Gambhir and the pitch curator.
The Three Lions will take the field under the leadership of stand-in captain Ollie Pope, as regular skipper Ben Stokes has been ruled out due to a shoulder injury. England have made three additional changes to their XI, bringing in Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, and Josh Tongue in place of Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, and Brydon Carse. Jacob Bethell replaces the injured Stokes.
Stokes addressed his absence during the pre-match press conference, saying,
“Decisions like this are not straightforward. You have to let the emotion settle before you make a clear, firm decision. I did turn up to training to see if I could go as a batter, but it wouldn’t be a sensible call to make, considering how much worse it could be by going out there.”
On the Indian side, the Men in Blue will be without key players Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, and Anshul Kamboj. Akash Deep is expected to step in for Bumrah, while Dhruv Jurel will don the gloves in place of Pant, who exited the series due to a forced injury. The replacement for Kamboj has yet to be confirmed. All-rounder Shardul Thakur has been retained in the squad to strengthen the lower-order batting depth.
Indian skipper Shubman Gill told ESPNcricinfo:
“So, in hindsight, there will always be opinions, and there will always be thoughts — you could have done this, or would have done that. But what matters is when you’re out there in the middle, you want to make a decision that suits the moment best. And when you’re playing with six bowling options, there will definitely be situations where one bowler is under-bowled, but it’s better to have more bowling options than too few.”
Gill also finds himself on the verge of breaking two historic records in this final Test. If he scores over 120 runs in the match, he will surpass Don Bradman’s 90-year-old record of 940 runs in a single Test series. Additionally, he would become the first captain to score five centuries in a Test series.
The build-up to the finale has been overshadowed by a heated exchange between Gautam Gambhir and the pitch curator. Addressing the controversy, Gill defended his coach, saying:
“We have already played four matches in this series, and nobody has ever stopped us from inspecting the pitch. All of us — including the coaches and captains — have seen countless pitches. I really don’t understand what the fuss was about.”
England XI (announced yesterday):
Josh Tongue
Zak Crawley
Ben Duckett
Ollie Pope (capt)
Joe Root
Harry Brook
Jacob Bethell
Jamie Smith (wk)
Chris Woakes
Gus Atkinson
Jamie Overton
India (Expected XI according to ESPNcricinfo):
Mohammed Siraj
Yashasvi Jaiswal
KL Rahul
B Sai Sudharsan
Shubman Gill (capt)
Washington Sundar
Ravindra Jadeja
Dhruv Jurel (wk)
Shardul Thakur / Kuldeep Yadav
Akash Deep
Prasidh Krishna / Arshdeep Singh