The Final Day Heroic...
Finally it's over. I mean, I'd love to see it for more days. It was June 20th it began and it was August 4th it ended. 25 days of play, and it all went to the very last wicket to decide the winner of the series. What more you could expect from test cricket. Test Cricket peaked here.
India came to England like underdogs, after losing key players - Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravi Ashwin due to retirement. Shubman Gill took the responsibility of leading the team, even though there were experienced players like KL Rahul who can handle leadership well. I think decision makers in Indian Cricket Board made this decision for the long run. And look how it paid off for them.
Let's get back to the action, to the 5th test match at Kia Oval, London. India batted first, struggled to score, Karun Nair made his 1st half century ages after scoring a triple hundred in his debut match, helped India to register 224 on the board. Chris Woakes got injured in the interim with dislocated shoulder.
England went hard from the start. On the half way, England were only 1 wicket down but India was half of their side down then, somehow the seam attack, Siraj and Krishna squeezed the last 6 wickets for 50ish runs made a huge turn in the game limiting England's lead to 23 runs.
On the 2nd innings, India were on the spot of bother with 70/2 losing both Rahul and Sudarsan on the evening session. And then came the nightwatchman, Akash Deep. He was unable to do many with the ball so he did with the bat. He scored 66 while relaxing Jaisval on the other end, climbed to score another century in this series.
But India lost key wickets- Deep, Gill, and Nair in quick sub sessions. But the middle order hold it all tight, showing their responsibility. Jaddu scored a fifty while Jurel scored 34 in quick time. And again, a quick fall of wickets made India in deep trouble at 357/9. But WashingtonSundar was there. I don't think anyone expected that innings from him. He played an IPL innings with 4 sixes scoring 53 in on time holding India up to 396, increasing the lead for 373.
By then, I thought India is gonna win this but English batsmen had other plans. Even though Zak Crawley went cheaply, other top order batters smashed Indian bowling attack. At one stage, England were 300/3, just 73 runs away from the win. And with small rains, the ball started to talk and England suddenly were 339/6. They lost both centurions- Brook and Root in a short period.
Coming to the last day, England was just 35 runs away from the win. And the opening over went exactly as England wanted, Overton hitting 2 fours, reducing the gap for 27. But Siraj was applying pressure continuously bowling out swingers and odd balls to the wicket. And was paid out by Jamie Smith's wicket.
Prasidh Krishna also got the help of the pressure created by Siraj. With a little help by Kumar Dharmasena, he was able to send Overton to the pavilion. Then the game was on. Another wicket will bring injured Woakes to the crease. And Josh Tounge couldn't keep the bat covering the stumps. Krishna went through to hit them. England is 357/9. Need 17 to win.
Injured Woakes couldn't even run. Even the shaking made him uncomfortable. So Gus Atkinson had to do all by himself. The field was wide spread. So had to hit sixes, just like Sundar did. And he just cleared one. He would have been out then if Akash Deep was near the boundary row.
Runs needed are down to single digits. Atkinson somehow managed to take a run at the last ball to keep Woakes safe. Siraj just had enough. After bowling more than 180 overs, Siraj was still standing like a statue, bowling in consistent phase. He set the Field for a short ball but bowled a yowker to the off stump to seal the victory for India by 6 runs.
He celebrated with iconic Siuuu Celebration and the rest is history. Indian duo was able to clinch the narrowest test win for India by achieving a miracle. They definitely pleased 1.9 billion people that day. Trust me, it was more than that.