Will Ashwin play the 4th Test? India's bowling coach Bharat Arun dishes out cliffhanger

When India's bowling coach Bharat Arun turned up for the virtual press conference ahead of the beginning of the fourth India-England Test, there was one question on everyone's mind; and that was if R Ashwin will play at The Oval? But Arun dished out a cliffhanger, leaving everyone guessing.

So far, in the first three Test of the ongoing five-match series, India have made senior off-spinner Ashwin warm the bench as the captain and the management have stuck with the four pacers and one spinner template.

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However, the series has now moved to the Kennington Oval, which is expected to be the slowest of the lot, and it could entice Kohli to finally include Ashwin.

"Ashwin, no doubt, is one of the best bowlers we have and its unfortunate that he has not played so far but if there is an opportunity and if we feel that he is going to fit into the scheme of things, they will definitely both be bowling in tandem," Arun said when asked if both the spinners can fit into the playing XI at Oval which aids spin bowling.

However, Arun hinted that English batters' circumspect way of handling Ashwin may lead to a change in nature of the track along with fickle English weather playing its part.

"History at the Oval says that it aids spin but you also know how the Englishmen are wary of Ashwin's abilities of what he could do if there is any assistance from the track.

"The best thing would be to decide after looking at the track tomorrow morning as anything could happen between now and tomorrow. So we look at it tomorrow morning and decide."