India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is not expected to play in the final Test against England at the Oval as the tourists look to avoid a series defeat.
Bumrah has already played three Tests in the series, the maximum workload the team management had targeted for the bowler after he spent three months on the sidelines with a back injury before returning to action in April.
India snatched an unlikely draw in the fourth test at Old Trafford on Sunday but trail the hosts 2-1 in the five-match series.
India went into the fourth Test with a depleted bowling attack having rested the injured pace duo of Akash Deep (groin) and Arshdeep Singh (hand).
Bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy had already returned home after a knee injury cut short his tour, while the visitors called up Narayan Jagadeesan to the squad and can keep wicket.
Anshul Kamboj made his test debut in Manchester but head coach Gautam Gambhir said they would have a full set of fit bowlers at their disposal for the Oval Test, which begins on Thursday.
However, India will be without stumper-batter Rishabh Pant, who has been ruled out of the series finale after fracturing his foot while batting in India’s first innings in Manchester.
Bumrah to break pledge?
Stuart Broad and Nasser Hussain analyse the bowling techniques of Bumrah and Jofra Archer to see what attributes help towards their fast bowling
India tied their hands unnecessarily at the start of the tour by repeatedly committing to the idea that the world’s No 1 bowler Bumrah would only play three Tests.
The rationale, to prevent exaggerating existing back issues, was sound but the policy was always too rigid.
Now they find themselves in a must-win situation with Bumrah’s allocation already used.
Bumrah has little recovery time and had an onerous week in the north-west after sending down 33 overs. England’s batters will breath a sigh of relief if he does not play.
As their fourth Test match drew to a close, England and India were once again left unhappy with each other as Ravindra Jadeja continued to bat for the visitors to make his century, despite the result being a draw
There was a farcical finish to the fourth Test as Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja rejected England’s offer of a handshake with 15 overs to go – the earliest a draw could have been agreed.
The pair had batted out the final two sessions to ensure India would avoid defeat but on 80 and 89 respectively, Sundar and Jadeja batted on to rubber-stamp their fine performances with hundreds.
England appeared furious and captain Ben Stokes brought on Harry Brook for some buffet bowling to speed things along, with Jadeja getting to three figures first before Sundar followed for his first Test ton.
Watch the fifth Test between England and India, at The Kia Oval, live on Sky Sports Cricket from Thursday or stream without a contract. Build-up begins at 10am ahead of the first ball at 11am.
England vs India – results and schedule
All games at 11am UK and Ireland; all on Sky Sports
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