Our Bureau
London
After 24 days of one of the most thrilling series one can remember, India and England stood at the end line with the game tilted towards the home side who needed just 35 runs with four wickets in hand. But as all the matches in this series were, the game went to the wire as Mohammed Siraj decided to carry India on his back bowling a fiery spell in tandem with Prasidh Krishna dismissing England just 6 runs short of the total.
With the victory in the last test, India managed to level the series 2-2. Not many would’ve predicted this result when the English batters came to bat today but such was the performance of the Indian pacers. Mohammed Siraj was awarded the Man of the Match for his figures of 9-180 in more than 46 overs bowled throughout the match.
The 5th Test at the Oval provided both teams with the most stereotypical English conditions with cloudy weather and the ball swinging in all directions. Both sides had four changes and were barred with several injuries. England lost their captain Ben Stokes and star bowler Jofra Archer whereas India didn’t have the services of their Vice-captain Rishabh Pant and ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
The match started with England dominating the first innings with seaming conditions and Gus Atkinson making his return with a bang. India was bowled out for just 224 with only Karun Nair crossing the 50-run mark. Atkinson took a five-wicket haul alongside Josh Tongue who dismissed three Indian batters.
When England came to bat it looked like a completely different pitch as both their openers attacked Indian pacers. But the attack didn’t last too long as Siraj and Krishna both bowled beautifully, knocking over the English batters with 4 wickets each. The English team could only manage a lead of 23 runs at the end of their innings.
Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal then took over the reins in their second innings and smashed his second century of the series. Unexpectedly, Akash Deep who came out as the night-watchman was the second highest run scorer for India with a score of 66. India managed to put up 396 and give English batters a target of 374 runs.
In the last innings, at one stage it was looking as if the Englishmen were going to run away with it quite easily in the end. Joe Root and Harry Brook were both batting beautifully, Brook was smashing Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground. But again, Siraj and Krishna stepped up dismissing English batters and bowling fiery spells. And in the end when England needed just 7 runs to win, Siraj sprinted one more time and bowled Atkinson to seal the match and save the series for India.
