Siraj masterclass delivers India glorious series-levelling victory

Hindustan Times

13 hours ago

Kolkata: Believe, Mohammed Siraj was telling himself after waking up on Monday. Strange thing, belief, since it usually draws its impetus from the most recent positives. India had a mixed bag to draw from here. There were two early wickets in the morning on Sunday, and a late comeback accounted for Joe Root. But the tired fast bowlers leaked runs otherwise, not to forget Siraj trod on the boundary cushion while catching Harry Brook on 19. But the best thing about belief is that it keeps reminding you that nothing is over until it's over. India's Mohammed Siraj celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of England's Gus Atkinson and India winning the match to draw the test series. (Reuters)
India were down and out for nearly 250 runs out of England's chase of 374 on Sunday, but on a new day with an old ball, 35 runs was made to look like a hundred.
The tension at the Oval was unbearable, fingernails were chewed nervously as Siraj was playing his own redemption song, with nearly 10,000 Indians screaming their lungs out to match the boisterous English. You remember the heartbreak at Lord's, Siraj falling to his knees after failing to stop the ball from rolling on to the stumps. You remember the despondency on his face after he stepped on the boundary rope while catching Brook, who went on to hit 111. But the most enduring image of the series would be this — Siraj uprooting Gus Atkinson's off-stump with a perfect yorker that arrowed in on off-stump to seal the sensational victory.
Amid the uncertainty of defending 373, accentuated to paranoid levels by England's no-holds barred batting approach, it's the character that most impresses. And no one embodied that resilience better than Siraj who returned 5/104. Last fast bowler standing from either side in a bodily draining series played out on the flat tracks that could put to shame those in the subcontinent, Siraj had to dig deep into the reserves of his body and mind. This time for a manic, chaotic and nerve-wracking hour. The 4.1-1-9-3 morning spell was the outcome.
Two fours in the first over and you couldn't be blamed for thinking this match was over before it resumed. Pulling the length wasn't the cleverest thing Prasidh Krishna did, and Jamie Overton had no hesitation in flaying it through square leg for a boundary. Another short of length ball, and Overton nearly chopped on to his stumps, but to India's dismay it ran to the fine leg boundary.
In came Siraj from the other end, bowling good length areas and making the ball move away or hold its line. Trying to cover for the swing, Jamie Smith stepped out, but the wobble seam ball lured him into poking it to Dhruv Jurel. One down, three to go. Could have been two to go had Gus Atkinson's edge not dropped short of KL Rahul at slip. Good thing was how Siraj was getting the ball to shape away like clockwork. Which meant that the ball that holds its line was due any time now.
Maybe Overton too expected it. But the thing with expectation is that it rarely prepares you for the moment it hits you. This was a fuller delivery alright, nipping in just as Overton was shuffling across the stumps, setting him up for a leg before that he couldn't pull out of. Impact inside the stumps, ball just clipping the edge of leg stump, it was understandable why umpire Kumar Dharmasena took ages to raise his finger.
When Josh Tongue was dismissed by Krishna for a 12-ball duck, the game took an extraordinary turn, achieving folklore status as Chris Woakes came out with his left arm slung inside his cardigan. Colin Cowdrey had walked out with a broken arm at Lord's in 1963, and in 1984 Malcolm Marshall batted one-handed at Headingley because of a fractured thumb. Woakes was heroically guarded from batting by Atkinson but even running between the wickets left him wincing in pain. This was do-or-die for both sides.
Not every move was spot on from India though. Jurel not losing his gloves before taking aim at the end Woakes was running to was shambolic wicketkeeping, but equally unimaginative was how Gill never saw that bye coming. Woakes couldn't bat, England had to run no matter what. By then Akash Deep had palmed a catch over the rope for six to bring England closer to a famous victory. A two took the target into single figures, before Atkinson ran a single again off the last ball to take England within one hit of tying the scores.
Siraj returned, for what was his 31st over of the innings, determined not to let England run away with a win. He achieved that with a searing yorker, leaving England dazed and India basking in the glory of having squared a series with a squad no one was ready to give a chance.