India and England are ready for the fifth and final Test of this Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy starting Thursday (Jul 31) at the Kia Oval in London. The two teams have played some outstanding cricket over the past month, with the hosts leading (2-1) after four contested matches. Although a miraculous draw in Manchester helped Team India stay alive in this five-match series, it remains to be seen how they fare in the absence of two of their match-winners, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah. The visiting camp would make several changes for the series-decider; let’s check out their predicted playing XI for the Oval Test.

India could make as many as four changes for the final Test at the Oval. While barring two forced replacements for the injured duo of Pant (broken toe) and Bumrah (niggle), India could also sit out Shardul Thakur, the all-rounder and seamer Anshul Kamboj, who made his Test debut in Manchester. Kamboj had a mediocre run with the new ball in hand, picking just one wicket, and Thakur failed to replicate his past heroics with both and ball; the visiting camp plans to include two outright quicks in their places.

An Indian Express report has suggested that the leadership looks at including Akash Deep as Bumrah’s replacement, with Prasidh Krishna, and not Arshdeep Singh, likely to play in place of Kamboj. As for Thakur, Karun Nair would replace him on the greener Oval top, strengthening Team India’s batting, with no signs of Kuldeep Yadav getting any game time on this UK tour.

On the other hand, Dhruv Jurel, who kept wickets in the previous two matches (at Lord’s and Old Trafford) due to separate injuries to Pant across both games, will play at the Oval, finally getting a chance to bat, which wasn’t the case earlier. Moreover, the top four would remain the same, with Nair, Jurel and the two all-rounders (Jadeja and Washington Sundar) comprising the lower-middle-order.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj