Set to return to Kennington Oval after 11 months, the Indian cricket team will be playing a Test match at this iconic venue for the first time since their 158-run victory against hosts England almost 21 months ago.
Advertisement
India, however, will be facing a whole different challenge at this ground this time round. In what is going to be their second consecutive ICC World Test Championship final, they will be up against table-toppers Australia – a team they defeated 2-1 in Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year.
Historically, the only two times when India had faced the Aussies at this stadium had come during ICC Cricket World Cup 1999 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. While they had lost the first match, they had ended up winning by 36 runs primarily because of Shikhar Dhawan‘s 17th ODI century four years ago.
In addition to the match witnessing Dhawan’s last international century, it is also remembered for the India captain Virat Kohli taking a stand for Steven Smith. Needless to say, both the star batters are expected to put on display a spectacle during the course of the imminent WTC final.
Kennington Oval Test Stats Of India
India, who have played a total of 14 Tests at The Oval thus far, have won just twice in comparison to five losses here. Half-a-century apart, their two victories had come in 1971 and 2021. A commonality between both the wins was them losing the toss.
Highest Test run-scorers at this stadium among active Indian cricketers are KL Rahul (249), Rishabh Pant (178), Virat Kohli (169), Rohit Sharma (138) and Ravindra Jadeja (126). A special mention needs to be made of Shardul Thakur (117) who had scored half-centuries in both innings of his only Test here.
Jadeja (11), Ishant Sharma (8), Jasprit Bumrah (7), Umesh Yadav (6), Ravichandran Ashwin (3) and Thakur (3) are the highest wicket-takers in Test matches among active Indian bowlers played at this venue.
India Last 10 Matches List At Oval London
As far as India’s last 10 Test matches at this ground are concerned, they have won two and lost three while drawing the remaining five on the trot.
| S. No. | Result | Margin | Year |
| 1 | Lost | 9 wickets | 1936 |
| 2 | Drawn | 1946 | |
| 3 | Drawn | 1952 | |
| 4 | Lost | Innings & 27 runs | 1959 |
| 5 | Won | 4 wickets | 1971 |
| 6 | Drawn | 1978 | |
| 7 | Drawn | 1982 | |
| 8 | Drawn | 1990 | |
| 9 | Drawn | 2002 | |
| 10 | Drawn | 2007 | |
| 11 | Lost | Innings & 8 runs | 2011 |
| 12 | Lost | Innings & 244 runs | 2014 |
| 13 | Lost | 118 runs | 2018 |
| 14 | Won | 157 runs | 2021 |
— Umesh Yaadav (@y_umesh) June 6, 2023
Even though both the white-ball formats are quite different to Test cricket, readers must note that India have won seven and lost nine out of their 17 ODIs at this venue. Additionally, they have never played a T20I here.
