Legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar didn’t hold back while dissecting England’s strategy ahead of the fifth and final Test at The Oval. Speaking on Sony Sports, Gavaskar took a sharp dig at the hosts for preparing a green-top pitch, implying that it was a tactical move to compensate for their weakened bowling attack.

With regular wicket-takers Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, and Brandon Carse ruled out due to injury, England have had to rely on less-experienced bowlers like Josh Tongue to carry the load.

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“Arrey unke paas koi bowling hain hi nahi (They don’t really have a bowling attack),” Gavaskar remarked bluntly. “Stokes, Archer, and Carse have taken most of the wickets in this series. With them missing, who is left to get breakthroughs? That’s why they’ve prepared this kind of pitch—to help the remaining bowlers like Tongue,” he explained.

The match began with England’s stand-in skipper Ollie Pope winning the toss and opting to bowl first under cloudy skies—conditions that typically aid seam movement. India, leading the series 2-1, made four key changes to their XI. Dhruv Jurel, Karun Nair, Arshdeep Singh, and Prasidh Krishna were brought in, replacing injured Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur, Anshul Kamboj, and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.

With both teams fielding altered line-ups, the green Oval surface may indeed prove decisive in determining the series outcome.

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India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel(w), Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj

England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope(c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue