Mohammed Siraj runs riot with self-belief as India beat 10-man England to level series

Just after Mohammed Siraj woke up in his hotel room at 6 am on the final day of the Test tour of England, he scrolled Google and picked an image that would inspire him. The image probably had something to do with ‘belief’.

A few hours later he was bowling at full throttle, the only fast bowler to last all 25 days of this 5-Test series, and troubling the already nervy-looking England side on The Oval pitch.  

He removed Jamie Smith, Jamie Overton and the last man Gus Atkinson as England, resuming at 339/6 and needing 35 runs to win, fell just six runs short.

“I had belief… My plan was to hit right areas consistently and build pressure. When I woke up today, I thought I could do it… I usually get up at 8 am for the match but today I got up at 6 am and downloaded a picture from Google,” said Siraj.

England, who were in command and cruising along on Day 4 at 301/3 following a 195-run partnership between Harry Brook and Joe Root, lost track after Jacob Bethell threw away his wicket to an innocuous delivery from Prasidh Krishna with the team needing just 42 to win. Joe Root again squandered his wicket away despite reaching his half-century to another average delivery from Krishna. 

That set the cat among the pigeons and England went to stumps following early close due to rain, needing 35 to win with four wickets in hand including the injured Chris Woakes.

The fifth and final day began well for England as they scored two boundaries off Krishna to reduce the target to 27 runs. But then Jamie Smith, who has struggled at the back-end of the series, played a poor shot on an ordinary delivery from Mohammed Siraj reaching out to a wide one and edging it to the wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel.

Siraj then got Jamie Overton leg before on umpire’s call off a delivery that came in with the angle and looked like going out. Kumar Dharmasena, facing social media backlash over inadvertent help accorded to England during a DRS call in first innings, gave it out.  

Suddenly it was 354/8 and the match was in India’s grasp. Soon Josh Tongue, expecting a short delivery from Prasidh Krishna due to the field change, was bowled off an overpitch delivery that could have been clipped to the fence for a double if not for four.

Clearly, pressure was showing on England, who played this Test with 10 men. Chris Woakes then came out to bat with a sling on his left arm. He was injured while diving to stop the ball during the first day’s play.

Gus Atkinson hit a six off Siraj, the ball was parried over the boundary by Akash Deep and then hit one for a double off Krishna down to deep midwicket.

However, in trying to avoid giving strike to Woakes, he kept swinging at the ball. It was a matter of time before a straighter one would hit the stumps. Siraj bowled that one and the Indians won the Test.

England had taken a 23-run lead in first innings. They made 247 in reply to India’s 223. England looked like taking a lead as they were cruising at 142/2 and then at 175/3 before Siraj bowled three sharp deliveries to get rid of Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Jacob Bethell. The deliveries to Pope and Root came in sharply and the one to Bethell was yorker that swung in. The England lower order succumbed for 247 from 215/5 with Jamie Smith again playing a poor shot against a wide one from Krishna.

England had won the first Test by five wickets, chasing a target of 373. India won the second Test by a whopping margin of 336 runs. England won the third Test at Lord’s by 22 runs. India managed to draw the fourth Test at Old Trafford after being under the pump for most of the days before India sealed the fifth Test by six runs at The Oval.

England could have won the series 4-1 but they couldn't drive home the advantage or fight in the last two Tests as hard as they did at Lord's. 

The drawn series has surely saved Gautam Gambhir criticism at least for the time being.

Shubman Gill was the Player of the Series for Indian cricket team while Harry Brook was the Player of the Series for England. Siraj was the Player of the Match. 

(Pic credit: BCCI Twitter)

Tags : Mohammed Siraj, The Oval, fifth Test, Shubman Gill, Indian cricket