The decision to call early stumps at the Oval on day four of the final Test match in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy has been controversial.
Several pundits have criticised the decision to extend the series when it could have been wrapped up that evening.
A brief spell of rain saw covers drawn over the ground, but there was still nearly an hour and a half left in the scheduled day’s play when the umpires decided to call an end for the day. However, while pundits and some former players were confused by the decision when the sun showed up and might have allowed for a few overs of play later, Indian bowling coach Morne Morkel had more sympathy for the decision.
Speaking at his press conference following the day’s play, Morkel tried to explain the rationale for the decision to stop play at the Oval. “It’s pretty wet out there now. It was going to take a while to get the covers off. The groundstaff has been incredible throughout,” Morkel said to reporters, showing grace towards the staff that Indian coach Gautam Gambhir had earlier found himself at loggerheads with.
‘We’ll create a little bit of excitement…’
Morkel stated that the Indian team wouldn’t think too much about being asked to walk off and not return despite generating some incredible rhythm and pressure in the 45-minute spell right before the covers were put on the square.
“It was out of our control. Again, tomorrow, we can just focus on doing a good warm-up and get the boys to bowl in the right areas and create a little bit of excitement,” said Morkel, looking forward to the future and the morning of Day 5.
While India’s trio of seamers in Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, and Prasidh Krishna have bowled a lot of overs, they were very threatening towards the close of the day’s play. As a bonus, they will have an extra evening’s rest, and only a couple of overs to see through before they have access to the second new ball.
They are four wickets away on the morning, with Jamie Smith the last recognised batter. However, the hosts can call on the likes of Overton and Atkinson, who are capable of seeing through the remaining 35 runs.