Trisha Ghosal in London
The India–England Test series has entered its penultimate lap. With India’s second innings already underway on Day 2 of the fifth and final Test, a result looks all but certain and it’s all to play for from here. India are two wickets down, with a 52-run lead. Night-watcher Akash Deep is at the crease with Yashasvi Jaiswal.
On the post-show, Nasser Hussain highlighted how, over the past couple of years, Day Three at the Kia Oval has consistently proven to be the most challenging for batters in County matches. It’s the indentations on the pitch, he said, that make life increasingly difficult.
Given how tricky batting has already been in this Test, today will be fascinating to watch. India will aim to bat England out of the game, while England will be desperate to find eight good deliveries to dismantle the Indian line-up. But do England have the same firepower without Chris Woakes?
Woakes injured himself on Day 1 while trying to stop a boundary and has been ruled out of the match.
Though he bowled 181 overs this series—more than any other player across both teams—Woakes only has 11 wickets to show for it. In comparison, Siraj has bowled 155.2 overs and Brydon Carse 155, placing them second and third on that list. Woakes, then, has been England’s tireless workhorse.
Of his 11 wickets, three were of KL Rahul—at Edgbaston, Old Trafford, and in the first innings here. Rahul is already back in the pavilion for the final time in this series. Among Woakes’ remaining scalps, only Shubman Gill (second innings, Edgbaston) was a top-order dismissal. The rest—seven of them—were batters positioned at No. 6 or lower. Ten of his 11 wickets were right-handers, and Jadeja, batting at No. 6 for India in this innings, is the only left-hander Woakes has dismissed in this series.
Wicket-wise, then, the impact of Woakes hasn’t been seismic.
So what about the economy? Except for the second innings at Lord’s and the match at Headingley, Woakes has conceded runs at an economy of 3 or above in most innings. The idea of him being a control bowler hasn’t quite held up either.
With the bat, he scored 64 runs across six innings—38 of which came in the first innings of the opening Test. So while England have had a long tail, Woakes hasn’t exactly been a consistent contributor with the bat either.
So then—will England not miss Woakes at all?
They will. But not necessarily as a batter or bowler. They’ll miss the experience of Chris Woakes especially during tough partnerships. With Ben Stokes already absent, the team is short on leadership and maturity. Woakes’ presence could have been invaluable in those high-pressure phases, helping captain Ollie Pope navigate the storm.
They’ll miss Woakes’ ability to share the bowling load. Gus Atkinson has been superb, but Josh Tongue and Jamie Overton have looked rather ordinary, especially on what has arguably been the most bowler-friendly surface of the series. That’s where Pope might find himself glancing around, wishing he had Woakes to throw the ball to for a composed spell.
With the momentum slightly swinging India’s way, it’ll be interesting to see whether Tongue and Overton can step up in Woakes’ absence. If they do, and support Atkinson effectively, Woakes the bowler may not be sorely missed.
But Woakes the batter? That’s a different story. It’s not so much about the runs he scores but the assurance of having ten wickets in the bank. Without him, England start a batter short.
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