It’s all square at The Oval! Who’s going to make strides towards a series lead? Joe Root‘s England or Virat Kohli‘s India? Follow it all on our live blog. For ball-by-ball commentary click here. For our coverage in Hindi click here.
10.30am: Still no Ashwin…
Ashwin will have to wait for his first appearance of the series
Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur come in for Ishant and Shami
England replace Buttler and Curran with Pope and Chris Woakes https://t.co/UpTMH8QwQ0 | #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/n5ozkVECgn
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) September 2, 2021
India stick with the four seamers/one spinner balance: Mohammed Shami has a niggle, Ishant Sharma is left out and Ashwin continues to miss out. “Stubborn,” is Warne’s assessment. “I would have played Ashwin. You don’t pick a side just for the first innings – it will turn – and he’s got five Test hundreds.”
Virat Kohli suggested that Ravindra Jadeja is a better match-up – despite England having four left-handers – because of their right-arm seamers predominantly bowling over the wicket, creating rough outside the lefties’ off stump. “It’s something that we thought is a good match-up for Jadeja as well, because mostly all our seamers bowl over the wicket,” he said at the toss. “It’s a nice little spot for the left-handers as well. I think according to the match-ups, it fits perfectly for our team – plus the balance he is giving us with the bat as well currently.” But surely there is room in the side to pick both?
England, meanwhile, bring back Chris Woakes as expected. Ollie Pope plays ahead of Dan Lawrence on his home ground, where he averages a shade over 100 for Surrey in first-class cricket.
10.10am: Ashwin time?
R Ashwin has a bowl in the nets © Associated Press
Once is a mistake. Twice is a choice. Three times is a habit. Will India really leave R Ashwin out for the fourth Test in a row? It’s a dark, overcast morning in south London which might tempt them to pick an extra seamer instead, but The Oval suits spin more than most grounds in England – although the pitch looks like it has a covering of grass on it.
Ashwin hasn’t played in nearly two months, but he took 6 for 27 in his most recent bowl – which was at The Oval, playing for Surrey on a turning pitch in the County Championship. Shane Warne has been pushing for his inclusion on Sky Sports this morning – there’s a surprise – but makes an excellent point that Ravindra Jadeja effectively becomes the fourth seamer, or the holding bowler, because of his ability to bowl dry and defensively. We’ll find out if India think the same before long.
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
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ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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