London, July 31 -- The Oval in 1971 witnessed a quantum leap forward for Indian cricket. Ajit Wadekar's side won a Test match in England here for the first time to also triumph in the series. At this venerable venue south of River Thames which staged the first ever Test in England in 1880, India prevailed on their last visit as well, in 2021. It's a setting where, psychologically, Indian cricketers feel most at home in England. The tourists would, in fact, confront England in the finale of the current five-Test series in better mental and physical shape than their opponents. It was demoralising for the hosts that they failed to bowl India out in their second innings in the fourth Test at Old Trafford despite having more than five sessions of play at their disposal to execute the task on a wearing pitch. Besides, England's bowlers rather ran themselves into the ground, delivering 257.1 overs in the match and being compelled to be on their feet for much of the last two days. The mere three days of downtime before the showdown at The Oval renders recovery a challenging process. Indeed, the home team's captain Ben Stokes, after his Herculean feat of capturing five wickets in the Indian first innings and scoring a century, was virtually hors de combat with hamstring and shoulder niggles. In contrast, the Indian bowlers sent down exactly 100 fewer overs, were not required to operate in England's second innings and, so, were bestowed almost two extra days of recuperation. Over and above, the tourists' heroic escape from the depths of zero for two in their second venture was as morale-boosting as a victory. England opting for the second new ball suited India as the harder cherry reduced the possibility of lower bounce. Just as much as England will ponder over resorting to fresh legs in the final Test - and they have pacers Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton to call upon - India will need to determine whether the leader of their fast bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah, with his brittle back, and Mohammed Siraj, who has played four Tests in five weeks and was erratic at Old Trafford, can be retained for a closing push in a crucial Test. Prasidh Krishna, who possesses extra pace and bounce, Akash Deep, a seamer who returned a match-winning haul of 10 wickets in the second Test at Edgbaston, and left-arm swing merchant Arshdeep Singh are all fit to step in as required. India's need for readjustment is caused by batsman-wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant's unavailability due to a foot fracture. However, an important reaffirmation at Old Trafford was Washington Sundar's potential as a batsman. It may be worth persevering with him at number five, where he batted in the second innings of the match to register a chanceless hundred. England's bowlers have, incidentally, been less effective against left-handers. Kuldeep Yadav's inclusion instead of Shardul Thakur is warranted. Indeed, ignoring this talented left-armer's claim against a unit who have historically been bamboozled by wrist spin might have cost India victory in the series. Bits and pieces cricketers don't win Test matches, neither does fear of defeat. Overall, pitches at The Oval are conducive to batting, with seamers deriving assistance from the new ball and spinners making their presence felt on the last two days. Bhagwat Chandrasekhar's rapid variety of freak wrist spin decimated England in 1971. Where finger spinners have made a limited impact because of an unusually dry English summer, Kuldeep's twirl, skid and bob off the wicket could well pose an examination for the Englishmen. Notwithstanding his brilliant batting, left-arm orthodox Ravindra Jadeja has over four series in England averaged an unimpressive 51 runs per scalp. Admittedly, India haven't played three spinners in a Test in England since 1990. But where the Indian bowling needs to conjure a coup de grace, an out-of-the-box approach, namely summoning Kuldeep's wicket-taking propensities, would be justified. Old Trafford could have culminated in a less honourable outcome, because of India's debatable choice of XI and skipper Shubman Gill's tactical inexperience. Sundar, picked as a bowling all-rounder, didn't get a look-in with the ball until the 69th over. Once Bumrah didn't break through with the new ball - which he hasn't for four innings in a row - India's became strangely a holding exercise. There was, for instance, no deployment of close catchers in front of the batsmen's eyes for the spinners. The prolific Joe Root seems destined to become the second highest century scorer and run-getter in Test history after Sachin Tendulkar. Clearly, India have to discover a method to curb his gluttonous tendencies. Kuldeep might just pose questions to him, which the other Indian bowlers, barring Bumrah occasionally, haven't. India are capable of squaring the series, and with it grabbing valuable away points in their quest to qualify for the 2027 World Test Championship final....