The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy decider between England and India will head into a fifth day, but it could easily have ended on Sunday. England need 35 runs, India need four wickets, and the match is hanging in balance. Yet, bad light brought play to an early close to play on Day 4, frustrating fans and former players alike.
Both Nasser Hussain and Dinesh Karthik felt the situation could have been handled differently. They argued that the officials should have explored all options to finish the game on Day 4 itself. For Hussain, it was about using "a bit of common sense" and giving the players the option of extending play. Karthik agreed and added that the crowd and the contest deserved a fitting climax rather than leaving the result hanging overnight.
Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton were at the crease when play was stopped. Rain arrived but the weather quickly cleared. With sunshine back over the ground, the umpires still decided to call stumps before 11 PM IST even though regulations allowed play to resume until 11:12 PM.
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Nasser Hussain Calls for 'Common Sense'
Speaking on Sky Sports, Hussain felt the match officials could have shown more flexibility to ensure the game moved towards a conclusion on Day 4.
"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," Hussain said as quoted on Sky Sports.
He suggested that the extra half-hour option, usually used when a result is in sight, could have been applied in this situation.
"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.
"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."
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Dinesh Karthik Agrees with Nasser Hussain
Karthik agreed with Hussain, saying a simple conversation between teams and officials could have made a difference. He stated that asking both sides if they were willing to play on could have delivered the finale the series deserved.
"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," Karthik opined.
"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 continued.
Harry Brook and Joe Root stitched together a 195-run stand for the fourth wicket, steering England closer to their 374-run target. Just when the hosts looked in complete control, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj brought India back in the game with three quick wickets of Brook, Jacob Bethell and Root.
