Team India went in with an extra batter, Karun Nair, for the fifth and final Test at the Oval against England, keeping in mind the green and overcast conditions in London for the week. Like the previous four Tests, there was a chance for Kuldeep Yadav to get slotted in for his first match, but with the volume of runs Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar had been scoring, the spin all-rounders became irreplaceable and India chose to add a batter to shore up for Rishabh Pant's absence.
However, with the way England batters Joe Root and Harry Brook, in particular, batted, it seemed like India missed an extra pacer as the three-pronged attack of Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna looked drained amid long spells, with Jadeja and Sundar bowling just four overs each. Indian bowling coach Morne Morkel reckoned that, looking at the wicket, they thought an extra batter could have been a great option, especially since the fourth seamer (Shardul Thakur) didn't bowl much at Old Trafford.
“To be honest, that’s been part of our conversation before every match. Heading into the Tests, given the nature of the wickets and the overhead conditions in the early days, we felt going in with the extra batter was important,” Morkel said.
“In the last couple of games, our fourth seamer didn’t bowl too many overs anyway, and with Washi and Jadeja both capable of bowling long spells, we leaned towards strengthening the batting. But yes, these are things we will reflect on at the end of the tour—the areas we could’ve handled differently," he added. However, if an Arshdeep Singh or an Anshul Kamboj was there at the Oval, he would have definitely shared the workload with the rest of the three pacers.
The bad weather in London pushed the Test match to the fifth day with England requiring 35 runs and India, four wickets.