England v India 5th Test Day 1 : 5 talking points

2) Virat's string of losses at the toss

England v India: Specsavers 5th Test - Day One

'King' Virat Kohli might arguably be the best batsman in the world, but the Indian captain seems to have exhausted his luck at the tosses.

The skipper once again called the wrong side as Root won the toss and elected to bat first on a fine morning at the Oval. Root became the first captain to win all tosses in a 5-Test match series since Mark Taylor in Ashes 1998/99.

This was Kohli's 7th loss of the toss on the trot across all formats. He also became the third Indian captain after Lala Amarnath (v WI, 1948/49) and Kapil Dev (v WI, 1982/83) to lose all tosses in a 5-match Test series.

Hence, it comes as no surprise when Kohli said at the toss "I think I need heads on both the sides. That is the only way I'm winning."

3) England's run rate

England v India: Specsavers 5th Test - Day One

England were excruciatingly slow in their innings, which allowed India to make a comeback into the Test and gain an upper hand over the hosts, even after England lost only 1 and 0 wickets in the first and second sessions respectively.

England's run rate was a painful 2.2 as they scored only 198 runs even after India completed bowling their quota of 90 overs. To put this into perspective, Moeen Ali, who is one of the most destructive batsmen in the England line-up made 50 (170) at a strike-rate of 29.