England all-rounder Chris Woakes will not take any further part in the ongoing fifth Test against India at the Oval, after landing awkwardly near the boundary rope to save a run on the opening day of the series decider. Woakes was grimacing in pain before the physio came to his rescue to attend to him and the all-rounder had to leave the field. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that Woakes will not be available for the Oval Test anymore.
"At this stage, the injury has ruled him out of any further participation in the Test. A further assessment will take place at the end of the series," an ECB statement read.
Woakes dived to save a run after Karun punched it on the offside, but landed on his left shoulder and immediately had his right hand on his shoulder. England will be reduced to 10 men for the remainder of the Test match, like India were in the last game after Rishabh Pant suffered an injury on the first day of the Manchester Test match.
England will now have to depend on the trio of Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton and Josh Tongue to get the remaining four wickets in the innings and then 10 later on in the second innings. India still have Karun Nair and Washington Sundar in the middle and will be keen to add at least 70-80 runs to their overnight score of 204 runs.
The wicket is expected to get better to bat on the second and third day, and India will hope that the assistance for their bowlers remains until it gets to that stage. Atkinson and Woakes were the best bowlers for England on the first day, with both of them accounting for Indian openers respectively.
Sai Sudharsan negotiated a difficult period before Nair summed up the conditions nicely with a solid batting show.