Legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar didn’t hold back his thoughts about the green pitch being used for the fifth Test between India and England at The Oval. While speaking on Sony Sports, Gavaskar took a dig at England, calling out their weak bowling attack and claimed that the surface was made to cover up for their lack of proper wicket-takers.
“Arrey unke paas koi bowling hain hi nahi (They don’t have much of a bowling attack). This is why they have made such a pitch. Stokes has taken wickets, Archer has taken wickets and Carse has taken wickets. If they are not in your team, who will take wickets? This is why they have made such a pitch so that it helps bowlers like Tongue and Co,” Gavaskar said.
England are playing at The Oval without their key bowlers Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, and Brandon Carse. Gavaskar claimed the pitch was prepared with extra grass to support less experienced bowlers like Josh Tongue and others.
Meanwhile, stand-in captain Ollie Pope won the toss and opted to bowl first under cloudy skies, hoping the conditions and the green pitch would assist their bowlers.
India made four changes to their playing XI. Dhruv Jurel, Karun Nair, Arshdeep Singh, and Prasidh Krishna replaced Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur, Anshul Kamboj, and Jasprit Bumrah.
At the end of first session, India were at 72 for 2 wickets with Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill at the crease. England’s Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson have taken one wicket each so far.
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