“If there’s some moisture in the pitch, they will once again lean towards the fast bowlers” – Former India opener WV Raman

Former India opener WV Raman has refrained from suggesting changes for the fourth Test, saying the Indian team management can only come to a conclusion after reaching the venue and taking a look at the Oval surface.

After the highs of Lord’s, India crashed to an innings defeat in the third Test at Headingley as England squared the five-Test series 1-1. WV Raman acknowledged it won’t be easy for the Indian thinktank to zero in on possible changes immediately after the loss and added that it will also depend on the surface on offer at the Kennington Oval.

“As Virat said, it will be a case of them going out there and seeing what the pitch is like and what they think about the kind of surface that will be given to the Test match, and then decide on the eleven. Because it’s very difficult even for the team management to predict what will be the playing XI immediately upon losing a Test match and the next Test match is four days away, and they have not yet reached the venue,” Raman said in response to Sportskeeda’s question during an online interaction arranged by Sony.

The Indian cohort is currently on the go, traveling from Leeds to London by train. Going by history, The Oval aids spin, as was evident when India last played a Test at the venue in 2018. The spinners picked up 16 of the 38 wickets to fall, and notably, part-time off-spinner Hanuma Vihari accounted for three of them in the third innings.

While WV Raman did agree that past events would have a bearing on current selection, he reiterated that India would go for their 4-1 seam-spin combination if the surface has any moisture in it.

“Yes it’s being taken for granted, in Oval it’ll be dry because you tend to see more of sunshine in the southern parts of the UK, especially in London. But if the pitch has not been used much over a period of last two years or probably this season, and if there’s going to be some moisture in the pitch, I am sure they will once again lean more towards the fast bowlers.

“Yes past records and the events that happened on earlier tour will be taken into account, but whether that is something that will be repeated now is a big question. Because it’s not necessary for what happened in 2018 to repeat here again,” Raman, who played 11 Tests and 27 ODIs, added.

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Sunday was taken for precautionary scans to assess his knee injury, and chances of veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin playing his first game of the tour have increased manifold.

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Edited by Sai Krishna