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London: England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected bat first against India in the 4th and final Test match at the Oval cricket stadium on Thursday.
India will be out to salvage anything they can from a series in which they have been completely overwhelmed by a rampant England. A powerful seam attack and determined batsmen snatched the No. 1 crown from a weary India in the third Test at Edgbaston.
It was a dream scenario, to begin with. Sachin Tendulkar on the brink of a 100th century; VVS Laxman one epic away from rectifying his flawed England record; and Rahul Dravid coming 'home' to where it all began.
Each would conjure his own moment of glory, of brilliance and of perfection to make it the greatest Indian summer; the kings would go on to conquer the challengers too and become emperors to live happily ever after.
But then, dreams are implanted to be shattered; hopes are created to be dashed and promises are made to be smashed. So, suddenly, India are on the edge of seeing it all turn into their worst nightmare. Once again.
Rahul Dravid has scored two hundreds in the series and Sachin Tendulkar is still looking for his first to reach the magical 100 international hundreds. His highest score in three Tests at The Oval is 82 in 2007, when India won the toss and batted for 170 overs to score 664 in a drawn game.
England's stated ambition is to win the series 4-0. They have won all the Tests in a four- or five-match series only twice: Against India in 1959 and against West Indies in 2004.
They have won eight out of their last 12 Tests, including six by an innings, with three draws and one defeat.
India last lost every Test in a series against Australia in 1999-2000, when they lost 3-0.
The gap between the teams shows up in the stats: In this series England have had nine 100-run partnerships, India one.
England batsmen have scored five hundreds, while for India, Dravid has the only two.
