India vs England 5th Test Preview: Pitch Report, Probable XIs & Match Prediction

By CrickoMedia Jul 30, 20252

India and England will be playing in the final test and the series decider starting from 31st July, Thursday at Kennington Oval. After the heroics of Ravi Jadeja and Washington Sundar in 4th test at Old Trafford Manchester, the series is alive with England leading from 2-1 but India can cause upset in the final test to close the series on draw.
There were so many questions around the both camps before the 5th Test because of so many injuries in both teams. We got you all covered in this blog so, let’s stick to it.

England team news and playing 11:

England will miss the duty of Ben Stokes(c) in the 5th Test and made Ollie Pope the new skipper. Ben Stokes misses because of the right shoulder injury in the 4th test as he’s been bowling too much and been their best bowler in the series. They have also made three more changes into their 11.

England’s Playing 11:

Zak Crawley
Ben Duckett
Ollie Pope(c)
Joe Root
Harry Brook
Jacob Bethell
Jamie Smith(wk)
Chris Woakes
Gus Atkinson
Jimmy Overton
Josh Tongue

India team news and playing 11:

After so many noises, we get to know that Jasprit Bumrah will miss the 5th test at Oval because of his workload management. Dhruv Jurel likely to feature in the 11 for Rishabh Pant who is also out with injury.

India’s probable 11:

Yashasvi Jaiswal
KL Rahul
Sai Sudarshan
Shubman Gill(c)
Jadeja
Washington
Dhruv Jurel(wk)
Shardul Thakur
Mohd Siraj
Akashdeep
Prashidh/Arshdeep

Kuldeep could also play but Gambhir is not fond of long-tail that’s why Shardul is ahead of him.

“Addition could be match defining for India as England’s struggle against spinners is well-known and Kuldeep is a genuine wicket-taker.”

Pitch Condition of Oval:

The Oval is not the batting paradise that we’ve been led to believe. At least in first-innings. It could well be one for the seamers and swingers.

The average first innings run is 277 with wickets falling every after 27 runs being scored. This will get better as the game goes on.

Match Prediction:

Both teams are struggling with injuries so, it’s hard to pick a winner here. Toss is key here whoever wins the toss and bowl first will get a decent chance to bowl out opponents cheap. As the weather on the first day of the 5th Test showing decent amount of rain which will help the seamers and swings.

Thank you.