Siraj fifer clinches Oval spectacle as India level series 2-2

Mohammed Siraj bowled with rapacious intensity to orchestrate India’s memorable come-from-behind win at The Oval as India levelled the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2-2 on an overcast fifth morning in London. England required 35 runs with four wickets in hand, one of them being an awfully injured Chris Woakes. Siraj, however, engaged his beast mode in a fiery spell with the old ball and got the desired help from Prasidh Krishna as India snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

Scintillating tons from Harry Brook and Joe Root has driven England into pole position on Day 4 before a bout of rain took the game into the fifth day. Prasidh Krishna resumed proceedings with a short ball, and Jamie Overton pulled him dazzlingly to begin with a boundary. He almost dragged the next ball onto his stumps, but the edge evaded the poles and trickled into the fine leg rope.

India’s resurgence kicked off at the other end where Jamie Smith played and missed twice against Siraj before he, on the move, nicked one behind without adding anything to his overnight score of 2. Much to India’s chagrin, a double strike was denied to Siraj as Gus Atinkson lucked out when the edge dropped just short of KL Rahul at second slip.

The close shave didn’t have a significant bearing on the game as such as Siraj soon had him trapped in front with a nip-backer. Overton sent the decision upstairs, only for the on-ground verdict to be upheld. The review did come to Josh Tongue’s rescue in the next over when he was adjudged LBW, off Prasidh, but the tracking found the ball to be sliding down leg.

Tongue, who was not being able to tackle the fury of Siraj, was cleaned up by an inch-perfect yorker from Prasidh. He fell prey to the oldest trick in the book as Prasidh sent the man back on the third man fence to make the batter pre-empt a bouncer, leaving his weight hanging back as the bluff arrived in the form of the fuller delivery. The clever dismissal left England 17 away from the finish line with no option but to call on Woakes, who’d dislocated his shoulder while trying to prevent a boundary. The allrounder walked out to a rousing applause, holding the bat with his top hand as a sling encased his bottom hand.

Atkinson made it a point to keep Woakes at the non-striker’s end, refusing singles until the last ball of the over, and going for the lusty blows – the very first attempt at which could have been taken in the deep but Akash Deep parried it over the fence for a six instead.

Ultimately, it was Siraj’s belief and grit that triumphed over the England duo’s valiant fight. The pacer sent down a searing cross-seamed yorker to clean up Atkinson on 17, ushering India to a famous win in front of a capacity crowd in the British capital.

Brief scores: India 224 (Karun Nair 57; Gus Atkinson 5-33, Josh Tongue 3-57) & 396 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 118, Akash Deep 66, Washington Sundar 53, Ravindra Jadeja 53; Josh Tongue 5-125, Gus Atkinson 3-127) beat England 247 (Zak Crawley 64, Harry Brook 53; Prasidh Krishna 4-62, Mohd. Siraj 4-86) & 367 (Harry Brook 111, Joe Root 105; Mohd. Siraj 5-104, Prasidh Krishna 4-126) by 6 runs.