Former Australia cricketers Brad Haddin and Tim Paine weighed in on the situation England find themselves in the ongoing Test series against India.

Down 1-3 with the series having slipped from their hands, England are playing for pride in the 5th Test at Dharamsala, but given their position in the game, it'll take a lot for that to happen. Having said that, win, lose or draw… irrespective of what the outcome is in Dharamsala, the one thing Ben Stokes got right in the series is his statement that scoreline doesn't reflect how competitive the series has been

Like India's tour of England in 2018, where Virat Kohli's side lost 1-4, Stokes's young brigade find themselves in the same boat. They won the series opener in Hyderabad, had their moments in Visakhapatnam and Rajkot, before running India really close in Ranchi. But in the end, three 'L's is what Stokes, Brendon McCullum and England will have to deal with.

Perhaps it's the same reason that prompted Stokes to say that England haven't been 'pushovers' like some of the teams in the recent past. Calling it a bit of a 'sledge', Haddin said that although he absolutely enjoyed seeing captaincy masterstrokes and his handling of youngsters, there is just no hiding away from the fact that this Indian team isn't at its strongest with some of their major star-power missing.

"It sounded like a thinly veiled sledge, didn't it? You can't fault Ben Stokes because he has been magnificent tactically in this series. England have got a very young spin attack in tough conditions in the sub-continent but young Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir have been fantastic and Ben Stokes deserves a lot of credit for that," Haddin told Around The Wicket.