Ben Stokes has been ruled out of the final Test as England takes on India at the Oval, London, on Wednesday, July 31, 2025. The match starts at 3:30 PM. Toss at 3:00 PM.
Ollie Pope will lead England in place of Stokes, who is ruled out with a shoulder injury. His county teammates Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton return to the XI.
The five-Test series is currently in favor of England at 2-1 after four tests. The fourth Test ended in a thrilling draw after Indian all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sunder made historic centuries batting the whole day on day 5 to draw the test match.
Ben Stokes, addressing the media ahead of the fifth Test, candidly shared details about his shoulder injury and the tough calls involved in stepping away from the match.
“I’ve got a decent tear in one of the muscles that I can’t pronounce because I don’t know how to say it. It took as long as we could to make that decision around that. Obviously, a bit of emotion goes into this kind of stuff when you find out what you’ve done.”
It will be interesting to see how the Indian playing XI would look like after injuries to Rishab Pant and Speedster JAsprit Bumrah.
Probable XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shardul Thakur, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Mohammed Siraj.
India vs England 5th Test – Where to Watch
The Ind vs Eng 5th test live can be watched on Sony Sports NEtwork andJioHotstar in India. The live stream can be watched on the official websites of JioHotstar.
check the full list here to see if you can watch for free.
Fox Sports in Australia, Sky Sports in the UK and Willow.tv in the USA will broadcast the test match live.
Grit got #TeamIndia this far…
Now comes one final push to level the series 👊
Watch #ENGvIND, 5th Test, starting today at 2:30 PM, on Sony Sports Network TV channels 📺 #SonySportsNetwork #NayaIndia #DhaakadIndia #ExtraaaInnings pic.twitter.com/DcA94UTsOD
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) July 31, 2025
Weather Forecast
The weather forecast presents a significant challenge for both sides, as heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected on Day 1 and Day 2, potentially affecting the outcome.
Pitch Report
The Oval is serving up a classic English green top this time:
Day 1 & 2: Expected seam movement and bounce—ideal for fast bowlers. England’s pace-heavy attack is built to exploit this.
Day 3 onward: The pitch tends to flatten, favoring batters. Spinners may come into play as cracks wide.
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