Former India opening batter Sunil Gavaskar provided a brutal assessment of why England dished out a green surface for the fifth and final Test at The Oval. Gavaskar reasoned that England's undermanned bowling attack needed assistance from the pitch, and that was why plenty of grass was left on the deck.Chris Woakes remained the only unchanged member of England's bowling attack from the last Test as the hosts brought in Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue and Jamie Overton to round off a seam-heavy unit. Although Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse had made an impact earlier in the series, their workload, especially in the Manchester Test, forced the management to bring in some fresh legs.Speaking in a video uploaded by Sony Sports on X, the 76-year-old said:"Arey unke paas koi bowling hee hai nahin. Isliye toh aisi pitch banaayi hai. Dekhiye aap jaante hain Stokes ne wickets le li hai, Archer ne le li hai, Carse ne li hai. Agar woh aapki team mein hai nahin toh kaun wicket lega? Aur iski vajah se hee aisi pitch banaayi jahan se Tongue aur jo bhi hai unko madad mile. (They don’t have much of a bowling attack. This is why they have made such a pitch. Stokes has taken wickets, Archer has taken wickets and Carse has taken wickets. If they are not in your team, who will take wickets? This is why they have made such a pitch so that it helps bowlers like Tongue and Co.)"Stokes is notably the highest wicket-taker of the series currently, but a right shoulder injury has forced him out of The Oval Test. Meanwhile, the management has seemingly decided to manage Archer's workload, given he only recently returned to Test cricket.England take two Indian wickets after opting to bowl first at The OvalChris Woakes removed KL Rahul. (Credits: Getty)Meanwhile, stand-in England skipper Ollie Pope elected to bowl first on Day 1 of the fifth Test, given the overcast conditions and plenty of grass on the surface. The tourists lost Yashasvi Jaiswal (2) and KL Rahul (14), with Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes dismissing them respectively.However, Shubman Gill (15*) and B Sai Sudharsan (25*) have done well to propel India to 72/2 in 23 overs of the first session. India had triggered four changes to their XI, bringing in Karun Nair, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, and Dhruv Jurel for Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Anshul Kamboj and Rishabh Pant.