England vs India Preview & Prediction | Fifth Test
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England will be without their captain as Shubman Gill’s India seek to save the series with victory in the fifth and final Test.
Date/time:
Venue: The Kia Oval, London, England
Weather: A chance of thunderstorms on Day 1, before sunshine and dry conditions across Days 2 and 3. Potential for rain during the final two days but expect temperatures to remain hot at well over 20c throughout.
How to watch: UK – Sky Sports / USA – Willow TV
England vs India prediction
A hard-fought draw at Emirates Old Trafford saw India show admirable fight with the bat to dig in and save the game after having been dominated for the majority of the contest prior to their second innings. But three centuries from captain Shubman Gill along with bowling all-rounders Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja ate up 629 balls in total as England could not find a way to bowl them out for a second time, much to the frustration of captain Ben Stokes.
Stokes bowled 35 overs in the Test, not to mention batted for 198 deliveries as he racked up a score of 141. Clearly those exploits took their total and a shoulder injury rules him out of the final Test at the Kia Oval, with vice-captain Ollie Pope set to stand in.
The absence of Stokes gives India a real chance. They ended the fourth Test by far the happier after blunting the England bowling attack and if they can find a way to take 20 wickets, then the tourists are more than capable of securing the runs required to beat England. However, Joe Root will have other ideas after he continued his dominance against Indian bowling last time out.
Root is now the second highest run-scorer in the history Test match cricket, surpassing Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting with only Sachin Tendulkar’s record total of 15,921 runs left to beat. Motivation remains as high as ever for the Yorkshireman, who has already accumulated 403 runs over the course of this series. Expect another healthy dose of runs for Root across this fifth Test, regardless of the result.
England vs India tip: Joe Root to score over 86.5 match runs
