England won the toss and opted to bowl first at The Oval.
Veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin failed to find a place in India’s playing XI, as the Indian team management and skipper Virat Kohli went with a four-pacer and one spinner strategy for the fourth Test against England at The Oval on Thursday (September 2).
Despite India making two changes with Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur coming in for Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami at The Oval; Kohli hasn’t found room for Ashwin, as the skipper went with Ravindra Jadeja as the lone spin option against buoyant England on Thursday.
As Ashwin was once again ignored and continued to warm the bench on the England tour despite many calls for his inclusion for the fourth Test against England, given the spin-friendly pitch at The Oval, Kohli’s move hasn’t only left the spinner's fans and experts disappointed.
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Well, after the toss at The Oval, Kohli revealed the reason behind ignoring Ashwin for the fourth Test on the trot, saying England opted with four left-handers and they thought Jadeja would be the great match for the combination and that’s why the veteran off-spinner wasn’t picked.
Kohli said at the toss: “We would have bowled first as well but toss isn't something you can control. Need to be prepared for either. We're looking forward to putting runs on the board.”
He added, “Two changes – Ishant and Shami have niggles – Umesh and Shardul are back. For us, it's about partnerships, we can't focus too much on individuals. England has four left-handers, so a good match-up for Jadeja, with our seamers bowling over the wicket. Also factors in his balance at No.7. The opening partnership has been amazing for us, it's about getting together as batsmen. A few days left on this tour, the series is poised beautifully, and no shortage of effort, for sure.”
England also made two changes, calling in Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes against India for the 4th Test.
Root said after winning the toss, “Going to make use of the overhead conditions. Looks like a good morning for bowling, we need to still hit the right lines and lengths, like we did at Headingley. We've got two changes - Ollie Pope in for Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes comes in for Sam Curran. Chris (Woakes) knows his body well and we all know about his performances. (On being the top-ranked batter) It does feel nice but obviously has no standing on this game.”
Here are the Playing XIs for the fourth Test:
India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
England: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root(c), Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow(w), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.