There was some hope that Mark Wood could be fit in time for this Test after his knee surgery but he is instead targeting the white-ball matches against South Africa at the end of the summer.
Archer’s omission comes after he has played back-to-back Tests, having made his red-ball comeback after four years in the third game at Lord’s, with England hoping both he and Wood will be fit for the winter’s Ashes in Australia.
Stokes hinted at the need for “fresh legs” after England spent 143 overs in the field across the final two days in Manchester but his own injury leaves plenty of unknowns.
Overton has played one first-class match for Surrey since May after he suffered a finger injury playing for England in a one-day international against West Indies in the same month.
Atkinson shone during his debut international summer in 2024, but his only cricket since the Zimbabwe Test has been a club match three weeks ago and a Surrey second XI game last week where he bowled 30 overs.
Stokes’ century at Old Trafford was his first in more than two years but his absence from the batting line-up will be less of a concern for England.
Bethell, 21, made a stunning start to Test cricket at the end of last year with three half-centuries in three matches against New Zealand and there have been calls for him to be included in the XI throughout the summer.
Meanwhile, India are yet to confirm their side but they will be without wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant because of a fractured foot and they are expected to omit Jasprit Bumrah, who has played the maximum three Tests they stated he would before the series.
In a series already littered with tension, India head coach Gautam Gambhir was involved in a confrontation with Surrey’s ground staff at The Oval on Wednesday during his side’s training session.
India skipper Shubman Gill, speaking the day before the Test, said he was not involved in the conversations but defended Gambhir and the coaches’ reasons for becoming frustrated.
“If a pitch curator is going to come to us and ask us to look at the pitch from three metres, that is not something that has happened to us before,” said Gill.
“As long as you are not in spikes you are allowed to look at the pitch at close quarters, that is the job of the coach and the captain. I don’t know why he didn’t let us to do that. I don’t know what all the fuss was about.”
