LONDON: England were only 35 runs shy of winning the final Test and the five-match series 3-1 when the play resumed here at the Oval on Monday morning. Overnight batter Jamie Overton slammed two fours off the first two deliveries bowled by Prasidh Krishna to bring the equation down to 27.
With wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith at the non-striker's end, it appeared England will complete the formalities in the next few overs to walk away with the honours. Mohammed Siraj, however, had some other plans.
The Hyderabad pacer looked like a man possessed as he steamed into bowl from the Pavilion End. He beat Smith with the first two deliveries swinging them away from the batter and then made him nick the third one. Dhruv Jurel held the low catch but umpire Kumar Dharmasena went upstairs to check whether the catch was clean. It was and hence began one of the most mesmerising and lethal spells of Test cricket in the modern era. It was all Siraj's show thereafter as the next one hour of play saw the pacer bringing England down to their knees single-handedly to win the match and level the series for India.
The pacer almost had Gus Atkinson the next delivery but the catch fell short of second slip fielder KL Rahul. Smith's wicket infused new confidence not only in the team but the Indian supporters, who thronged the venue to cheer for their team, albeit for an hour. They followed every step Siraj took during his run up and let out huge oohs and aahs whenever the pacer had a go at the batter with his incisive line and length. Such was Siraj's impact that every ball he bowled became an event. Every time he ran into bowl, Indian fans were expecting a wicket and he obliged as he sent back Jamie Overton the next over reducing England to 354/4, still 20 runs away from the target.
India looked out of the contest on Day 4 afternoon when Harry Brook and Joe Root were going hammer and tongs. The duo added 195 runs for the fourth wicket to push India to the wall. But Shubman Gill and Co never lost hope and staged one of the most remarkable comebacks in Test history. "What we did this morning kind of summarizes what this team is all about. 70 odd runs, 7 wickets in hand. The way Brook and Root were going, not many teams in the world would have given themselves a chance. But this team believes that whenever we have some kind of an opening, we can make that, we can get through that opening," captain Gill told journalists after the match.
Gill complimented Siraj and said having a bowler like him makes captain's job easy. "And that's what we were talking about once Brook was out and then we got early wicket of Bethel, that this is our opening. One more wicket from here, and you never know, it's cricket, still 70 odd runs on Day 4, on that kind of a wicket, or even 50 runs, they would be under pressure. But when you've got bowlers like him bowling, it makes your job as a captain very easy. You're just standing out there and you just want to appreciate their bowling," he said.
England had lost two wickets but they still were the favourites to win the contest. Atkinson and Josh Tongue survived Siraj's next over bringing down the equation to 18. Siraj needed support from the other end and Prasidh delivered as he castled Tongue to bring Chris Woakes to the crease. The pacer still has his left arm hidden inside his jumper with the sling in place. His right arm was strapped but he was there to see his side home along with Atkinson.
Akash Deep then spilled a catch of Atkinson in Siraj's next over. If dropping the catch was not enough, the ball popped over the boundary line adding six more runs to England's total. Atkinson then ran for a cheeky single off the last ball to retain the strike and keep Woakes away from facing the ball. Jurel couldn't hit the stumps, giving Atkinson another go at the target.
Prasidh's next over yielded three runs including the most-important single from the last ball as England reached one hit away from tying the match. It was now or never for Gill-led India and Siraj was at his bowling mark. As he began his run up, the crowd got behind him cheering the bowler loudly. Siraj bowled a low full toss that disturbed Atkinson's woodwork even as he attempted to sweep the ball.
Siraj stood there with his arms spread wide with his teammates running towards him from all corners of the field. It turned out to be an apt finish for a tightly-contested series with Siraj being the hero of the victory, India's narrowest win in Test history in terms of runs.
