India skipper Shubman Gill on Wednesday said that levelling the five-match Test series in England would be a "great achievement" and he would return from his first assignment as captain a lot wiser.

Despite being a team in transition, India have fought hard and if it was not for those crunch moments, they could have been on the right side of the result at Leeds and Lord’s.

Heading into the series finale, Gill reflected on his time as the leader of the side over the past 50 days.

"It has been very exciting. One day before the last Test, I am here and I am very excited. The series has been a great learning curve for me. There are some things you can only learn from experience. And I have learned so much from these four matches that we have played," Gill said on eve of The Oval Test.

"If you look at the kind of cricket that we have played, sometimes the scorecard of the series, as in where we are in the series, doesn't determine that. Every match that we have played, it was very difficult to decide which team is going to win after four days of cricket.

"If we are able to do that for every match, for four matches, coming outside of India with a relatively young team, it is going to be a big achievement for us if we are able to level the series,” said Gill.

Bumrah decision on morning of match

The pitch before match day looked the greenest out of all venues with both teams expecting the ball to move off the surface. England have already named four pacers for the game while India are keeping their cards close to their chest.

"We are going to take a decision (to play Jasprit Bumrah or not) tomorrow. The wicket looks pretty green. So, we will see how it turns out," Gill said.

Stokes big miss for England

England captain Ben Stokes is someone who makes things happens and the hosts will miss him dearly at The Oval, said his Indian counterpart.

"A big miss for England definitely. I think the way whenever he comes on to ball or bat, he always makes things interesting. He always makes something happen. So, from their perspective, I think it is definitely a loss for them,” said Gill.

Gill on batting till eight

Gill said someone like a Washington Sundar has vindicated the team's standing on selecting all-rounders and stretching their batting till number eight.

With Rishabh Pant injured, Washington batted at five in the second innings and scored his maiden Test hundred. Number six is Ravindra Jadeja, seven should be Dhruv Jurel and eight could be Shardul Thakur.

"If you look at Washington, he is someone who gives us so much control with the bowling. And his batting has been a really big plus for us. And we are fortunate to have players like that in our team, who can prevent a collapse whenever it happens.

"In the lower middle order, we have seen that. That was one of the areas where we thought we needed some work, our lower middle order. And with him coming in, I think we have improved that area," said the captain.

Sixth bowler will mostly be under-bowled

Shardul Thakur bowled just 11 overs in Manchester but made a timely 41 in the first innings. Washington was introduced very late in the first innings and that is something that happens frequently when one is playing with six bowlers, said Gill.

"Sometimes, what I have felt in the series, like in the last match, a lot of people also felt that Washington should have come in earlier, which is a valid point. But sometimes when you're out in the middle, you see with this ball, when there are two spinners bowling early in the innings, it's very hard to maintain the ball. And the fast bowlers go out of the game for about eight to ten overs.

"Because then you again need to maintain the ball. So, in hindsight, there would always be opinions and there would always be thoughts. You could have done this, could have done that. But what matters is when you are out there in the middle, you want to be able to make a decision that you think would suit the best for that moment.

"And when you're playing with six bowling options, there would definitely be some opinions where one bowler is going to go under-bowled. But it's good to have more bowling options rather than not having bowling options, for sure," he said.

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