India vs England 2021, 4th Test: Pitch conditions at Kennington Oval, London weather report and stats

India and England will lock horns in the fourth and penultimate Test at Kennington Oval, London from September 2 (Thursday) with the series interestingly poised at 1-1. After the drawn series opener and Virat Kohli-led India winning the second Test at Lord's by 151 runs, Joe Root & Co. bounced back in style to win the third Test by an innings and 76 runs as both sides have plenty to play for in the penultimate contest.

A 2-1 unassailable lead will be for taking for both sides. Ahead of the match's commencement, here's a quick stat of how both sides have fared at the venue. 

STATS

Both India and England have squared off against each other on 13 occasions at the picturesque Kennington Oval, London. Out of the 13 games, India have managed to win only 1 encounter and lost 5. Meanwhile, the remaining 7 Tests resulted in a draw.

During India's 2018 tour of England, Kohli & Co. lost to hosts at the venue by 118 runs in pursuit of 463. To add to India's woes, they have lost all their last three Tests at the venue, including two innings defeat.

PITCH CONDITIONS

Traditionally, the pitch at The Oval is akin for pacers as well as spinners. While it will begin to assist the pacers for the initial few days, the spinners come into the action which might tempt Team India to finally give R Ashwin a chance in the series. Both Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja can feature in India's XI. For the batters, they will find it a nice turf to bat on, with runs mainly coming in the second session of the day.

WEATHER CONDITIONS

According to AccuWeather, the weather in London is expected to remain fairly for the first three-four days. However, rain may play spoilsport on the final day. Hence, if all three results remain possible on Day 5, we might see rain wasting crucial time as it happened during the series opener (when entire Day 5 got washed out). As batting already remains tough in the final innings in England, the change of weather might tilt the equation in the favour of the bowling side on Day 5.

PREDICTED XI: 

India's XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin/Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

England's XI: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (c), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ollie Pope/Dan Lawrence, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, James Anderson