(Cricket news) After a disappointing innings defeat in the 3rd Test match at Headingley, team India return to London to play the 4th Test at the Oval. England have won the toss and elected to bowl first. The big news is the exclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin once again. The spinner finds himself on the bench for the 4th straight Test match.
Playing XI
England: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, David Malan, Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.
England have made two changes as Ollie Pope replacing the unavailable Jos Buttler while Jonny Bairstow given the wicket keeping duties. Chris Woakes has recovered from his injury to replace the out of form Sam Curran.
India: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
India have made two changes with Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav replacing Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami who have niggles. There is still no place for Ravichandran Ashwin.
Also read: India looks forward to hit back in fourth test at the Oval as England hopes to maintain momentum
Weather forecast
The weather forecast is not terrible but it isn't positive as well. The first 4 days it is forecasted to have a cloud cover in London. At this moment on day 1 the conditions are overcast. The 5th day is where the party could be spoiled by rain or bad light. The overhead conditions will favour the seamers which is why Virat Kohli has again gone for 4 seamers while Ravichandran Ashwin misses out once again.
Pitch report
Oval is the only place in England where spinners average more than seamers. The pitch is considerably flat and favours the batters but the overhead conditions might conflict with that. The pitch will help the seamers initially without a doubt but will bring spin into play later on. There is a cover of green grass which will keep getting less and less as the days progress. Overall the pitch is certainly a captain's nightmare where there is no right decision.
