The caravan moves to the Oval with intrigue surrounding both teams
Big picture
If India do make changes, it will likely reflect the flatter conditions expected at The Oval, as well as the usual wear and tear of a five-Test series. It is a mark of their great strength in depth that R Ashwin remains on the fringes of selection, despite being ranked the ICC’s No. 2 Test bowler in the world.
Form guide
(last five completed matches; most recent first)
England: WLDLD
India: LWDLW
Players to watch
Team news
England will have to change a winning team, after Buttler was omitted from the squad due to the impending arrival of his second child – Bairstow will retake the gloves for the first time since the 2019 Ashes and Ollie Pope (who averages 100.71 in first-class cricket at The Oval) looks favourite to come into the middle order ahead of Dan Lawrence. Chris Woakes is also set for a first Test appearance since August 2020, most likely as a direct replacement for Sam Curran in the allrounder spot.
England (probable): 1 Rory Burns, 2 Haseeb Hameed, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Joe Root (capt), 5 Ollie Pope, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Craig Overton, 10 Ollie Robinson, 11 James Anderson
India (probable): 1 KL Rahul, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja/R Ashwin, 8 Shardul Thakur/Ishant Sharma, 9 Mohammed Shami/Umesh Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Pitch and conditions
Never mind the urban jungle, Kennington is usually a hospitable environment for batting’s big beasts. The last time England and India played at the ground, in 2018, Alastair Cook signed off from Test cricket with a crowd-pleasing 147, while there were also hundreds for Root, Rahul and Pant. But spin could also play a significant part, as evidenced by Surrey’s last Championship game at The Oval, back in July: Somerset, the visitors, made 429 in the first innings before being bowled out for 69 second time around, Ashwin taking 6 for 27 in a one-off county appearance. The forecast is clear for all five days, with temperatures rising over the weekend.
Stats
- Root has moved back to No. 1 in the ICC batting rankings for the first time since 2015. With 1398 runs in 2021 so far, he needs 84 to pass Michael Vaughan’s England record for Test runs in a calendar year.
- Moeen Ali, named England’s vice-captain in Buttler’s absence, needs one wicket to go past Jim Laker and seven to become only the second English spinner to 200 in Tests.
- If he plays, Ashwin can close in on Harbhajan Singh as India’s third-highest wicket-taker – with 413, he is four wickets behind.
- India have not won at The Oval since their maiden Test victory in England, back in 1971. Since then, they have drawn five and lost three in south London.
Quotes
“Now is when the hard work really starts. We’ve got to look to go even further, dig a little deeper, and really start almost to go through the gears as the series goes on.”
Root knows England need to back up their victory at Headingley
“It depends on the conditions, on the wicket. Ashwin no doubt is probably one of the best bowlers we have, it’s unfortunate he hasn’t played so far. But if there is an opportunity and we feel he is going to fit into the scheme of things, they will definitely be bowling in tandem.”
Arun on the prospects of Jadeja and Ashwin playing in the same XI
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick