All eyes will be on Virat Kohli when he walks on to the field for the toss at Kennington Oval. (More Cricket News)
Virat Kohli after winning the Lord’s Test opted to bat first at Headingley believing in team will respond to the challenge.
But instead India collapsed to 78 all out and never recovered apart from a brief one day where its batters led-by Cheteshwar Pujara briefly raised hope of a miracle. The Oval match will be the test of Virat Kohli’s India. It will surely test India’s tenacity and morale.
One thing that has been hotly debated in the buildup for this match is India’s team combination.
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England have received a major boost in the form of Chris Woakes and Mark Wood fit and available.
India will have to check on Ravindra Jadeja’s injury whose unavailability might open the door for Ravichandran Ashwin.
Ashwin is right now country’s highest Test wicket-taker with 413 scalps in 79 games and is only four wickets behind third-placed Harbhajan Singh. The fast bowling combination is also likely to be changed. Ishant Sharma was out of sorts at Headingley so Shardul Thakur might get a chance to play the 4th Test.
Head-to-head
India’s five-match unbeaten run against England-- four wins and a draw--were snapped at Headingley. England lead the overall head-to-head record 49-30 in 128 meetings.
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Match and telecast details
Match: Fourth Test match of India's tour of England, 2021
Days: Sept 2 to Sept 6, 2021
Time: 3:30 PM IST/ 11:00 AM local time
Venue: Kennington Oval, London, England
TV Channels: Star Sports Network
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar (Subscription required)
Likely XIs
England: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Dan Lawrence, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes, James Anderson
India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane/Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja/R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma/ Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
