On the eve of the fifth Test against England at the Oval, England skipper Ben Stokes revealed that has a muscle tear, due to which he won’t be able to participate in the series decider.

In his absence, Ollie Pope will lead the hosts in the final match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Stokes also said he gave himself every chance to play just as a specialist batter.

In this ongoing series, Stokes has aggregated 304 runs in seven innings at an average of 43.42, including one hundred.

"I am obviously disappointed, I have got a decent tear in one of the muscles I can't pronounce. We took as long as we could to make the decision around that. Obviously, there is a bit of emotion that goes into this stuff when you find out what you have done. I came down here this morning to give myself every chance to play just as a batter," Stokes told reporters.

The captain also stated that it was a collective decision after consulting with the medical team and head coach, Brendon McCullum.

"I think you need that time chatting with the medical team, Baz (McCullum), then 20 minutes with me to really be clear around the decision that we made. It is one of those weighing up the risk and reward, and the risk was way too high for the damage," Stokes added.

"I wouldn't expect to put any of my players at risk with an injury like this, so I will start rehabbing now and focus on what we have got coming up in the winter. Once the series was done, I was feet up anyway, so it doesn't make too much difference from what I had at the end of the series until the winter anyway," he remarked.

Ben Stokes minced no words as he also called out the demanding schedule of the series. The Three Lions, leading the five-match series 2-1, announced as many as four changes to their XI for the finale, starting on July 31.

While admitting the physical demands are part of the game, Stokes didn’t hold back in his criticism of the scheduling.

“The gaps between games could have been better. There were gaps of 8-9 days between matches and then 3-4 days as well. You could make it a 4-5 days gap between matches maybe, so there's that consistency,” he said.

“It's been tough for both teams — a lot of overs bowled, a lot of time spent on the field. But maybe if you had 4-5 day gaps, you could have had the same amount of time in the series.”

“Gaps between matches could have been say 4-5 days. It’s been hard for both teams,” he continued.

Apart from Stokes, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, and Brydon Carse will not feature in the fifth Test and England's revamped XI includes Jacob Bethell, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, and Josh Tongue.

On Dawson's snub, Stokes said, “The Oval is where seamers pick most wickets. Lots more live grass on this pitch.”

Commenting on the handshake episode in Manchester, Stokes said: “I understand why Jadeja and Sundar wanted to get their 100s but I was not going to bowl my bowlers. We are over it, India are over it. Let’s not focus on those 20 minutes, it has been a great series.”

Reflecting on the series as a whole, he remarked: “It’s been a big toll on the body. Physically it’s tiring but the mental side too. Tough, gruelling series but a test of character and physicality. The way both teams have fought shows how much the format means for India and England.”

When asked about the heated confrontation involving India head coach Gautam Gambhir and the Oval pitch curator, Stokes replied: “I don’t know, I wasn’t here.”