'It Is Definitely Hard': Ben Stokes And Shubman Gill Highlight The Biggest Issue With Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Series, Suggest Minor Changes

IND vs ENG: The ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series has been hard on the players of both the sides. What has been more interesting is the fact that all the four Test matches of this series have gone till the final session of the fifth day, something that rarely happens in the longest format of the game these days. Conditions in England too have been very unforgiving this year, as it was not the normal English summer with rain and chilly mornings.

The heatwave across Europe in the month of June and July did take its toll on the England and the Indian team, and workload management was something that was heavily debated and was a big task for the management of both the teams. The last Test match of the series will be played at the Kennington Oval, and it will decide the winner of this hard-fought contest.

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Shubman Gill And Ben Stokes Highlight Scheduling Issues

English skipper Ben Stokes will miss the Oval Test due to a right shoulder injury that he had picked up in the Manchester game. Stokes has been England's go-to player, and he has ticked all the boxes either with the ball or the bat in his hands. The English skipper shared his reservations with the breaks between two games and expressed that it is something to be looked at.

"I guess you can look back on a five-game series and ask if the gaps between games could have been a little better. You've had two eight- and nine-day turnarounds and two three-days - maybe you could look at making it five for every game so there's consistency," said the English skipper.

Indian skipper Shubman Gill too shared the same opinion, and he also reiterated on the fact that all the four Test matches of this series have gone into the final day and a longer break is needed for the players to recover. "One of the most important things in this series is that all the matches have gone to Day Five - and not just that, the final session of Day Five. Three days is too short a turnaround when both teams are playing such hard cricket," added Gill.

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India Look To Better Their Record At The Oval

India will look to better their record at the Oval in the fifth and the final Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series. India have played a total of 17 Test matches at the iconic venue. They ended up winning two Test matches, lost six, and nine of them ended in a draw.