• Source:JND
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The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is on the verge of reaching an epic conclusion as England and India will go up against each other for the final time in the series on Monday. There was a great chance for the series to end on Day 4 (yesterday), however, umpires felt that the light was not adequate and called it stumps. For the unversed, England required 35 runs more to win the match and series 3-1. On the other hand, India need four wickets more to make it 2-2.

Currently, Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton are unbeaten as they look to cross the final hurdle at the Oval. The on-field umpires Kumar Dharmasena, Ahsan Raza, and the groundsmen are being subjected to criticism as commentators Dinesh Karthik, Nasser Hussain felt the game could have been over by Day 4 if the play had resumed.

As per the rules, the play could have been resumed by 11:12 PM IST last night. However, umpires called stumps before 11 PM despite sunshine after a rain-break.

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Hussain suggested that umpires should have asked both India and England if they wished to finish the game on Day 4 itself.

"Most importantly for viewers and fans who paid good money, remember Monday is a workday, and this sort of series deserves a finale in front of a big crowd at an iconic cricket ground, the Oval. That would have been some finale on Sunday, you may have just knocked off 35, or you may have seen Chris Woakes walk downstairs in a sling. I'm just wondering if they could have done anything, they had like 42-43 minutes to play with and within the laws and the playing regulations," said Hussain on Sky Sports.

"If the groundsman had said no, we can't get the covers off in that time, the umpires would have to call stumps. I'm just wondering, you do have the option of the extra half hour, don't you? If you feel you can get result at 7.30, if there was 10 to win, the umpires would have given the team the extra half hour, I was just wondering if you could give the extra half hour at 6:42 (11:12 PM IST) and say to the teams, it has to come from the teams," he added.

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"We're willing to push that back half an hour, are you okay, both teams, are you okay to do that, if one of the teams, if India could say, our bowlers are exhausted, give them a night's sleep, then you say, absolutely fine, or England say, we've had a mad hour there, we want to come back tomorrow, that's fine, but I'm just wondering if you could have a bit of common sense in there, but it's a shame," he said.

Dinesh Karthik threw his weight behind Hussain's opinion, stating that a sold-out Oval crowd deserved a blockbuster ending on Day 4.

"On a day like this, especially with a Test series of this magnitude, it would be nice to have 20,000 people at the ground cheering, whichever team won, I mean, it was either going to go England 3-1, which is what it looked like for a majority of the day, and then suddenly after tea, India's come back and they have some renewed excellence with the ball," said Karthik.

"Little bit of rain, and I agree the rules are the rules, but I kind of like what Nasser said, that half an hour extension that you get meant, even if it meant it needed to start at 6.45, it could well have been 11, 12 hours, it could have gone either way, the crowd would have gotten to see the result, and it's a nice feeling to know that both teams have gone so hard, you give them the option, they don't want to use it, fair enough, everybody's going to come back tomorrow for whatever it's worth, but today, I think a little bit more common sense would have been to ask, I'm not saying it should happen, to ask I think is the fair thing to do," he added.