What

The last Test of the four-match series between England and India

When

August 18- 22, 2011. The game begins at 3:30 pm, IST.

Where

Kennington Oval, London. One of the better venues for India given that they have lost only two games in ten outings over here so far; India have drawn seven and won only one encounter here. However, that solitary win, which came way back in 1971, gave India their first ever series-win in England. Not a bad place for the visitors, trailing 0-3 in the series, to regain some of their lost pride.

The Teams

India would be hurting badly from not only having lost the Test series but having surrendered their No. 1 ICC Test ranking to England as well. There is a case for India playing their reserves in this match just to infuse the team with some much needed energy. RP Singh could well come in as a replacement for one of the pacers. The Uttar Pradesh pacer, who last played a Test match against South Africa over three years ago, could provide something different to MS Dhoni given his ability to bowl from around the wicket with his left-arm action. In the spin department, too, Pragyan Ojha could be played ahead of Amit Mishra given the latter’s struggles in the Edgbaston Test.

The visitors’ struggles in the lower middle-order have also come to the fore in this series. Apart from a score of 78 in the first Test at Lord’s, Suresh Raina has scored only 27 runs from five innings in three Test matches. Virat Kohli might be a viable option, but given his ordinary run (76 runs in five innings) in the recent series against the West Indies, the Indian think-tank might just decide to create a place for Abhinav Mukund in the batting order.

England have played like champions. The most telling difference, statistically speaking, which aptly summarises the hosts’ superiority over India, is that Matt Prior (avg. 63.25), Tim Bresnan (avg. 77.00) and Stuart Broad (avg. 60.66), all lower-order batsmen, boast better batting averages than India’s best batsman in this series, Rahul Dravid (avg. 60.40). On the bowling front Broad (strike-rate 31.5), Bresnan (31.7) and James Anderson (44.7) have taken their wickets at a far better clip than their Indian counterparts. Accordingly, a 4-0 series whitewash is very much within the reach of the hosts.

Trivia

With 171 catches and 25 stumpings to his credit, MS Dhoni is four dismissals shy of aggregating 200 dismissals in his career as a Test cricketer. If Dhoni manages to get to 200 dismissals at the Oval, he will become the first Indian keeper to reach this landmark.

Graeme Swann is six wickets short of snaring 150 Test scalps. However, given that Swann has bagged only four wickets in three Tests, with best figures of two for 88 in the second innings at Edgbaston, the landmark could still elude him even at the end of this Test.

Venue Stats

England – played 93, won -38, lost – 19, tied – 0, draw – 36 – win percentage – 40.86

India – played 10, won - 1, lost – 2, tied – 0, draw – 7 – win percentage – 10.00

Highest total in an innings: England 903/7 decl. in 335.2 overs v Australia - August 20, 1938

Lowest total in an innings: Australia 44 in 26.0 overs v England – August 10, 1896

Best individual score in an innings:Len Hutton (England) – 364 v Australia - August 20, 1938

Best bowling figures in an innings:Devon Malcolm (England) 16.3-2-57-9 v South Africa – August 18, 1994

Average first innings score at Kennington Oval: Overall - 346, since 2000 – 396

Average second innings score at Kennington Oval: Overall - 301, since 2000 – 347

Result summary at Kennington Oval

Head-to-head

Last meeting at Kennington Oval: August 9, 2007 to August 13, 2007

Brief scores: India 664 & 180-6d drew with England 345 & 369-6

Form guide (most recent listed first)

India: Lost, Lost, Lost, Drawn, Drawn (3 losses)

England: Won, Won, Won, Drawn, Drawn (3 wins)

The Squads

India: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Gautam Gambhir, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Pragyan Ojha, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar, Virender Sehwag, Wriddhiman Saha and Amit Mishra

England: Andrew Strauss (c), Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Graham Onions and Steven Finn.

All stats are as onas on August 17, 2011