England and India fight fatigue as gripping Test series goes to the wire
A congested schedule of five Tests in less than seven weeks has proved gruelling, especially for the fast bowlers from both teams, with every match going the distance so far.
Remarkably, India can still end the series all square at 2-2 after salvaging an unlikely draw in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, keeping the hosts on the field for 143 overs in their second innings.
Tensions spiked at the end of the game when India allowed Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to complete their centuries after England captain Ben Stokes offered to shake hands on a draw, adding spice to the Oval Test.
AFP Sport looks at the key talking points ahead of the fifth Test in London.
India weigh up Bumrah decision
Jasprit Bumrah's back injury earlier this year prompted India to announce the fast bowler would only feature in three games during the current series.
The world's top-ranked Test bowler made his third appearance on a docile pitch in Manchester and has little time to recover after bowling a gruelling 33 overs, during which he took two wickets.
But India coach Gautam Gambhir says all of his squad's quicks are fit for the finale including Akash Deep, who took 10 wickets in Bumrah's absence during India's 336-run win in the second Test at Edgbaston before suffering a groin injury in the next match at Lord's.
England must decide whether to risk express paceman Jofra Archer, who has bowled nearly 90 overs in two Tests after more than four years of injury-enforced exile.
The home team took just four wickets on a flat Old Trafford pitch during India's battling second innings, with seamer Brydon Carse also worked hard.
Jamie Overton has been added to an England squad that already has extra pace options in Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson.
England may need to rein in Stokes
Can England stop skipper Ben Stokes from bowling himself into the ground at the Oval?
The Old Trafford match was a personal triumph for the all-rounder, who became just the fourth England cricketer to score a hundred and take five wickets in the same Test.
Stokes has now sent down 140 overs -- the most he has bowled in any series -- and is the leading wicket-taker on either side with 17 scalps.
Yet in Manchester he was in evident pain, often clutching his thigh as well as nursing a bicep injury.
With the skipper central to England's hopes of regaining the Ashes on their upcoming tour of Australia, concerns remain over his workload.
"Bowling, being in the field is tough work, so I am pretty sore," said Stokes after the fourth Test. "We are going in 2-1 up but we want to put that last big performance in."
Remarkable Gill eyes another record
Captaincy appears to be doing wonders for the career of previously inconsistent India batsman Shubman Gill.
The elegant 25-year-old scored his fourth century of an extraordinary debut series as skipper at Old Trafford.
He came in with the tourists in dire straits at 0-2 in their second innings, responding with a marathon 103 in 238 balls that laid the foundations for a great escape.
Gill has set a new record for the most runs scored by an India batsman in a series against England of 722, surpassing team-mate Yashasvi Jaiswal's tally of 712 in 2023/24.
At the Oval he could eclipse Sunil Gavaskar's all-time India series record of 774 runs, set in a four-match campaign against the West Indies in 1971.
One downside for Gill is that he will be without vice-captain and prolific runscorer Rishabh Pant, who sustained a foot fracture in Manchester.
jdg/jw/mw
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
€40m vice-captain offered to Liverpool
Liverpool have been presented a unique opportunity to strengthen a problem area as a result of Barcelona's financial concerns. The Reds are about to head into the season with only TWO fully-fit centre-backs and there are question marks over the future of one of them. LFC x New Era Shop Now LFC Signed Merch Shop Now LFC x Titleist Shop Now Virgil van Dijk has been secured to a contract until 2027 but his partner Ibrahima Konate is only under contract until 2026. With no sign of a breakthrough, it means the club could be left woefully short of viable central defensive options in less than 12 months. Factor in the injury to Joe Gomez - third-choice at the outset of preseason - and you can see how centre-back could potentially become an issue. Barcelona turn to Liverpool Recently it's been suggested that Barca could be forced into selling Ronald Araujo in order to make space in the budget. Araujo, 26, is under contract until 2021 but could be offloaded for a bargain €40m fee this summer. Liverpool have been previously linked with the Uruguayan stopper - with the player being described as a favourite of Arne Slot. And with uncertainty over Konate as well as Gomez's injury - this could be a unique opportunity to strike. And Defensa Central reckons the Reds could be preferred bidders - giving the Premier League champions a big advantage over other suitors. Barca don't want to sell Araujo to Real Madrid Those interested clubs are reported to now include Real Madrid and Barca fear ANOTHER Luis Figo-style transfer happening. That's why club president Joan Laporta would rather sell Araujo to one of his Premier League suitors - namely Liverpool. 'The Barça president could sell his second captain, clearly forced by the debts that are drowning Barcelona,' the report reads. 'Laporta doesn't want another Figo case and is negotiating with Liverpool to keep him from joining Real Madrid. 'This explains why Joan Laporta wants the player to go to another club, and in the Premier League there are several who are willing to put more than 40 million euros for the Uruguayan, among them Liverpool.' Konate to Real, Araujo to Liverpool? Of course Real are among the contenders to sign Konate either on a free transfer or else for a fee this summer. And so we could have a domino effect involving the France international and Araujo looming into view. If Liverpool sell Konate to Real Madrid this summer - for €50m or so - it means Los Blancos do not have to go chasing Araujo. That in turn would reduce the risk of embarrassing Laporta - who would otherwise have to sell one of his vice-captains to Real Madrid. Instead Liverpool - with a vacancy at centre-back and money to spend - could move for Araujo. Let's see how this one plays out over the next few weeks.
Forbes
15 minutes ago
- Forbes
The Case For Jack Grealish's $130 Million Deal Being Good Value
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JUNE 12: Jack Grealish of Manchester City celebrates with the UEFA Champions League Trophy and Premier League Trophy on stage in St Peter's Square during the Manchester City trophy parade on June 12, 2023 in Manchester, England. (Photo by) Getty Images As his first season at Manchester City drew to a close, Jack Grealish revealed he'd been using the words of one of his youth team coaches to cope with criticism. Breaking the British transfer record the previous summer in a $130 million deal from Aston Villa, heaped colossal pressure on the man who'd become a household name and housewives' favourite during the England national team's run to the Euro 2020 final. To deal with the scrutiny, the Solihull lad would recall a phrase Steve Burns used to tell him. "He always used to say: 'Pressure is a privilege'," Grealish explained. "Especially as time goes on, I think there's such a mental side to football now where you need to be in the right mindset. "It was a massive decision [to join City] . I'd been at Villa my whole life, since I was six – obviously growing up, playing for my boyhood club and captaining them. 'To leave was a difficult decision, I've said it plenty of times, but it was something I felt was right at the time. I think it was the perfect time for me to move on, try something new, and step out of my comfort zone.' Grealish might have been saying the right things, but he constantly faced criticism for a perceived regression on it. Although he was playing in a very different team and facing opponents who gave him little space to operate, pundits chastised the midfielder for not taking the games by the scruff of the neck. "If you come into a team with great players, you have to impose yourself," ex-Manchester City forward Rodney Marsh said in a often-repeated critique. "But I don't think Grealish has done that. I think he's taken a backward step. "At best, he's been peripheral. He seems to have gone into his shell. He doesn't seem to be the same type of player. "He's playing with much better players at City. So when the ball is recycled, it doesn't get to him the way it did at Aston Villa. "Whenever Villa got the ball, they used to give it to him all the time. But when you've got a lot of top players in the same team, it's different. 'He's playing with much better players at City. So when the ball is recycled, it doesn't get to him the way it did at Aston Villa.' Nevertheless, the Premier League title was still delivered at the end of his first campaign with Grealish playing more games than he had done in the previous two seasons with Aston Villa. He stepped it up considerably the next season and was an ever-present starter as City won the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup. According to team-mate Kyle Walker, Grealish made the crucial difference. "The second season, when we won the treble, I can honestly say he was probably the reason why we won that," he said on his BBC podcast last year. 'He dragged players into areas that they didn't want to come in, offloaded the ball to someone who had more space. That's Jack's quality. He is a fantastic player.' His manager Pep Guardiola agreed. "I don't have any doubts about the qualities of Jack," the Catalan coach said earlier this year, 'the quality has always been there, the year of the treble would have been impossible.' But Grealish has slipped down the pecking order in the last two years. He is no longer challenging for a starting berth; at the end of last season, he wasn't making the matchday squads. "Don't ask me about Jack," snapped an irritated Guardiola at a journalist who questioned Grealish's omission as the 2024/25 campaign reached its final phase. "It's nothing personal with Jack. I am the person who fought for him to come here and the person who fought for him to stay here this season and the next season. I am the one who said 'I want Jack Grealish'. MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 20: Jack Grealish of Manchester City on the bench before the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and AFC Bournemouth at Etihad Stadium on May 20, 2025 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images) Getty Images However, TalkSport's chief football correspondent, Alex Crook, claims the situation for Grealish has deteriorated since Guardiola was annoyed by the reporter's questions. "I'm told he has accepted that his City career is over," Crook said this week. "Everton and West Ham are two of the clubs keen on signing him on loan from the Premier League, but I think there is going to be some negotiating to be done. 'He earns around [$400,000]-a-week, obviously that would be too rich for Everton, so, either he is going to have to take a pay cut, or Manchester City, if they do agree to loan him out, would have to supplement those wages.' This is quite the decline for a man who was linked with Bayern Munich and Napoli at the start of the summer, but it might be what he needs. That, at least, is the belief of Gareth Barry, who made the same switch several years ago. When asked if Grealish would benefit from following in his footsteps, he said, "Yes, if I were sitting in Jack's shoes, I'd want to go out there and prove everyone wrong. 'People are starting to write him off a little bit. He'll be thinking he can still get in the England squad, if he can play regular football and that's exactly what I'd be thinking. So for me, Everton would be a good move.' 'He probably wouldn't have to move from where he's living up in Cheshire, so he'd be settled off the pitch and he can go out there and concentrate on the football and prove everyone wrong, because everyone knows that he's got the ability to go and produce the goods.' As his Manchester City career ends, the question is - was it a success? Given how it ended and the relentless negative reporting that has followed Grealish since he made the $130 million switch, it's tempting to say he failed. However, that is to completely discount the testimony of his team-mate and manager that he was instrumental in achieving the greatest trophy haul in English soccer history. Those words make it almost impossible to say that the deal, worth more than $250 million when wages are factored in, is not good value given what it led to. In commercial and emotional terms, winning the Treble is massive for Manchester City. It wouldn't have been possible without Grealish, which makes his signing good value.
Forbes
15 minutes ago
- Forbes
Relegation Favorites Sunderland Need An Unlikely Hero
These days, the question for Championship teams entering the Premier League is not how, but if they can survive. Whereas in years gone by, avoiding relegation in the top division used to be a realistic target for at least two of the promoted sides, today, such an eventuality would be miraculous. All three of the new Premier League teams have been immediately relegated for the last two consecutive seasons. To give a sense of how unusual that used to be, such an event had only occurred once in the Premier League era in the 1997-98 season. It's become such a nailed-on expectation that even as the champagne is sprayed by a team winning promotion in the Wembley Play-Off Final, questions about how unlikely it is for the club to remain in the division begin. And so Sunderland AFC's sporting director, Kristjaan Speakman, who not long earlier had the honor of winning soccer's most valuable game, was forced to discuss grim future prospects. To his credit, Speakman batted away the obviously negative headwinds his side faced. When BBC Radio Newcastle asked if the number of promoted clubs being relegated was worrying, the executive replied: "It doesn't worry me. I think it's a fantastic challenge. Everyone who works at Sunderland has just gone through an incredible challenge of trying to navigate from League One to the Premier League. "This is a challenge everyone is really looking forward to. "When we came to the club, we had a multi-year strategy of how we'd get back to the Premier League. That's not just a season-by-season thought process. "We're going to continue that way of thinking, we're going to make decisions we think are in the best interest of the club to try to retain our position in the Premier League. "We're going to try ensure we don't make decisions that will negatively impact the club in the long-term, because you've seen before with Sunderland how negative that can be. "As we know, there's some really key decisions coming up around making sure we have a squad capable of trying to achieve that objective." He can draw comfort from the fact that Sunderland's dramatic extra-time winner against Sheffield United was, in many regards, an underdog success story. The Mackems' opponents were considerably better resourced by virtue of Premier League parachute payments—solidarity payments from the top flight to relegated teams—which are distorting the competitive balance of the division below by their size. They may upset the odds and stay up if they can win promotion on a budget that pales compared to recently demoted sides. Bookmakers doubt it will be the case and have made the club favorites for relegation with the decision to invest in untested youngsters, not currying favor with those deciding the odds. However, this week, a signing who was most definitely outside the long-term model arrived. Granit Xhaka is 32 years old and brings a wealth of Premier League experience from his time at Arsenal. He arrives with a reputation bolstered substantially, having led Bayer Leverkusen to an unprecedented Bundesliga title since leaving the Emirates. He was bullish about survival after putting pen to paper on a contract with the club. "I'm very proud to be here. When I spoke to the Club, I was excited and I felt the energy, and the mentality that all the people and players have," he said. "It's exactly what I wanted, and I have a very good feeling. We are back to where this Club needs to be, and we want to stay here to write our own history. "I feel that I'm ready to help the team with my experience but with quality as well. We need to find ourselves on the pitch, but I don't think this will be a big problem. "It's been a long time to wait, but I'm here now and I'm looking forward to it." Former manager Martin O'Neill was slightly more apprehensive, although he thought it could prove a good move. Speaking on TalkSPORT, he said: "Although he did fine at Arsenal, even towards the end, remember, he fell out with the fans, he did all of that type of stuff. And then he redeemed himself, didn't he? "And had a really terrific season, the season before last. He was really, really good. So well done to him in that aspect. "Would it be good for Sunderland to get someone of that experience in? I think so. I think so. Might as well do it. It's not fantastically costly, is it? £17million? "Listen, Sunderland need some players in the football club. They're a really terrific football club, but no question about it, they wouldn't be strong enough with the present team that they would have. So any bits of experience, I'm sure, would help." It will be fascinating to see if Xhaka has sensed something in the air at Sunderland. But what is abundantly clear is that he faces a substantial challenge in achieving survival.
