"Bowling Hain Hi Nahi...": Sunil Gavaskar Roasts England Over 'Green' Oval Pitch

Legendary Indian cricket team batter Sunil Gavaskar roasted England brutally while discussing the 'green' pitch at The Oval for the fifth Test encounter. Gavaskar said that England lack proper wicket-takers in their playing XI for the match and as a result, they have gone with a surface that they think will boost their chances. England were without the services of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Brandon Carse for the crucial match. The trio have taken the majority of wickets for England in the ongoing series and Gavaskar pointed out that without their top bowlers, England hope that the pitch will play in their favour.

“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 on Sony Sports on Thursday.

Coming to the match, England stand-in skipper Ollie Pope won the toss and elected to bowl against India in the fifth and final Test under overcast conditions at The Oval.

Trailing 1-2, India made four changes to their playing XI, bringing in Dhruv Jurel, Karun Nair, Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna in place of injured Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur, Anshul Kamboj and Jasprit Bumrah.

England are without regular skipper Ben Stokes.

India: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, and Mohammed Siraj.

England: Ollie Pope (c), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, and Josh Tongue. 

(With PTI inputs)

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