London: The perseverant Mohammed Siraj’s warrior spirit steered India to a series-levelling six-run victory over England in the fifth and final Test here on Monday, bringing a fitting end to one of the most intensely-fought and drama-filled showdowns in recent times.
With four wickets in hand and 35 runs to get, England held the edge before start of play but the gladiator in Siraj made life hell for the opposition batters from ball one.
In the end, his effort, complemented quite well by Prasidh Krishna at the other end, left England short by the thinnest of margins and allowed India to sign off 2-2 in the high-pressure five-match rubber.
Siraj was deservedly adjudged player of the match for his nine-wicket match haul for the team that was missing its regular pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in this game due to his workload management.
“I woke up in the morning and checked google on my phone and took out a ‘Believe’ emoji wallpaper and told myself that I will do it for the country,” the effervescent 31-year-old said in a post-match interaction, joy and relief both apparent on his face despite a tired body that delivered 185.3 overs in the series.
The decision to call off play on day four before cut-off time after a brief spell of rain was questioned by the likes of Stuart Broad and Michael Vaughan but it seemed fitting that the series-decider went to the final day with both teams fighting tooth and nail from start to finish.
The day started with bright sunshine but two hours before start of play, the clear skies made way for dark clouds, giving more hope to India and their fans who ensured a sellout crowd at The Oval on day five. The 25 pounds non-refundable ticket helped fill the 27,500 capacity facility in no time.
“For us as a team that wasn’t given a chance in the series…for us to fight back and fight every game and get a result of 2-2…for us and for Indian Test cricket going into the future, this will rank right at the top and this is where the change begins and the team will win a lot more series outside of India,” said batter K L Rahul, who had his own role in the triumph with two hundreds.
The ground’s chief curator Lee Fortis, who made headlines before the start of the game for his verbal spat with India head coach Gautam Gambhir, used the heavy roller for one last time which usually makes batting a tad easier in the first 30 minutes of play.
When proceedings finally began, the new ball was due in 22 balls but England expectedly went on the offensive in overcast conditions from the word go.
Prasidh Krishna, who had four balls left from his 23rd over overnight, bowled a short ball to start with and Jamie Overton did well to pull it away for a four. An inside edge the following ball meant back to back fours for England, reducing the target to 27 runs.
Siraj, India’s stoic warrior in the series, made the old ball talk in his opening over from the pavilion end and immediately got the ball to shape away.
The dangerous Jamie Smith (2) was beaten in the first two balls before a third one in the off-stump area took the outside edge on way to the keeper, causing the sizeable Indian fandom in the stadium to erupt in unison.
Every ball of that Siraj over was an event.
Following the much-needed breakthrough, a half chance was created against Gus Atkinson the very next ball on the fifth stump but that half chance was not taken by K L Rahul at second slip.
In his following over, Siraj foxed Overton with a nip backer as the batter expected the bowler to continue with the off-stump line.
The on-field decision was reviewed by Overton but the ball was just clipping the leg-stump. England still needed 20 to win at that stage.
Prasidh backed up Siraj from the other end by reducing England to 350 for nine, a full ball trapping Josh Tongue in front and drawing a deafening roar from the partisan crowd.
What followed next would feature among the great moments of on-field bravado.
A game after Rishabht Pant came out to bat with a fractured foot for India, Chris Woakes walked into the centre with a tied broken left arm, prompting everyone in the stadium to stand in respect.
That moment of immense courage took one back to 1963 when Colin Cowdrey came out to bat with a broken arm and helped England secure a draw against the West Indies.
With Woakes in no position to bat, Atkinson did not have an option but to use the long handle.
He targeted the straight boundary and managed to clear Akash Deep who got his hands on the ball only to send it over the ropes.
The target soon was in single digits and with Atkinson doing well to keep himself on strike, India had to go for one final roll of the dice.
With field spread out, Siraj fired a yorker to shatter Atkinson’s off-stump, bringing a heart-stopping end to the game.
