The fifth and final Test between India and England is set to witness a thrilling finish on day five after bad light and rain forced the match into day five (Monday) at The Oval. As things stand, England need only 35 runs to pull off a memorable win over India to clinch the series 3-1, whereas India only need four wickets to emerge victorious and level the series 2-2. However, former India and England cricketers Dinesh Karthik and Nasser Hussain were not happy with the match officials for imposing early stumps, as they felt that the match deserved a thrilling finish amid a sea of impassioned fans from both sides. 

"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 tonight (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. 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

Former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik also agreed with Nasser Hussain. 

"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," said Karthik.