Five-star Siraj bowls India to series-levelling victory against England at Oval

Continuing the intensity of the keenly-contested five-match Test series for the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy, the final match at the Oval witnessed a fitting end with India knocking down England by six runs in a tense fifth morning, to level the series 2-2 in London on Monday.

After bad light forced an early closure on the fourth evening, Indian pacers breathed fire at the start of play on the final morning, with pacer Mohammed Siraj standing tall in the absence of spearhead Jasprit Bumrah to lead the pace attack with a five-wicket haul.

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Having featured in all five Tests, it was a test of Siraj’s physical and mental strength, but the Hyderabadi right-armer showed why he’s rated so highly in red-ball cricket.

Siraj started the onslaught on the final morning by striking in his first over of the day to get rid of the dangerous Jamie Smith, who after being beaten twice, snicked his third attempt with a palpable edge clean into Dhruv Jurel’s gloves.

Smith’s wicket reduced England to seven down with 27 still needed for victory under overcast conditions. A slight drizzle aided to India’s advantage with fellow right-arm quick Prasidh Krishna steaming in with brisk pace to add to the pressure on the English tail.

At the other end, Siraj came back with his second wicket of the morning, by trapping the overnight batter Jamie Overton, who failed to get it in his favour after reviewing. Krishna kept it tight at the other end, welcoming new man Josh Tongue with a scare, even though reviews ruled it in the Englishman’s favour.

With both sides within sniffing distance of a victory, England faced another casualty as Krishna was finally rewarded for his persistence, and India inched closer with the right-armer castling Tongue’s half-formed defences with a superb yorker.

Tongue’s departure brought in last man Chris Woakes, with a solitary arm, amid thunderous applause from the crowd. The scenes at the Oval were reminiscent of Colin Cowdrey at Lord’s in 1963, and like Cowdrey, Woakes began at the non-strikers’ end with Gus Atkinson hold England’s fate in the match.

Atkinson kept England in the hunt with an aerial shot that Akash Deep mistimed and the ball flew over the fence for a six bringing the equation down to the hosts needing another 10 runs. Even though the target gradually started getting to single digits, the Indians did not allow the emotions ride over them before Siraj came up with a perfect yorker to clean up Atkinson for his fifth wicket of the match, and ensured Shubman Gill’s first series as India’s Test captain didn’t end in a loss.

As Siraj stood there with the Siuu celebration, the rest of the Indian team huddled around the matchwinner, bouncing up and down in glee and relief. Handshakes followed between both sides, signalling the end of a keenly-fought series, where tempers flared, but at the end, it was mutual respect between both sides that stood tall.

Brief Scores: India 224 & 396 bt England 247 & 367 all out (Harry Brook 111, Joe Root 105, Ben Duckett 54; Mohammed Siraj 5/104, Prasidh Krishna 4/126, Akash Deep 1/85) by six runs.