India pulled off an astonishing comeback in the fifth Test against England, which could go down as arguably one of the greatest Test matches of all time, to win by six runs at The Oval and draw the five-Test series 2-2. They were down and out and England were seemingly home and free for much of the fourth day but a late flurry of wickets, alongwith Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna suddenly stopping the flow of runs put England under pressure. The pair then tightened the noose in the short but immensely dramatic Day 5 and astonishingly, India went on to win by six runs.
This is despite England needing just 74 to win at one point on Day 4 with as many as seven wickets in hand while Joe Root and Harry Brook were on a partnership of 195 runs in 210 balls. Naturally, this has led to reactions from across the board in the cricket world and beyond. India legends Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly were among the first to post.
Eventually, reactions have come in from across the board with Google even taking note of Siraj’s viral “I only believe in Jassi bhai” quote. The pacer had said that about Jasprit Bumrah after India won the 2024 T20 World Cup and fans on social media have now turned that quote around as a tribute to Siraj himself.
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Siraj’s lion-hearted effort that helped India turn things around from a seemingly hopeless place on Day 4 and fittingly, it was the 31-year-old fast bowler who took the final wicket at the Oval and sealed a memorable win for the visitors. With England six runs away from victory, Siraj torpedoed in a low full toss first ball of the 89th over and uprooted Gus Atkinson’s off stump to send the Indian fans at the ground and his teammates into a tizzy.
Siraj had started the proceedings on Day 5 by dismissing Jamie Overton, who had made the match look rather academical after hitting two boundaries early on. Prasidh would strike soon after when he rattled Josh Tongue stumps with the visitors needing just 1 wicket to win. This forced Chris Woakes to walk in with his hand in a sling and tucked away in his sweater. Atkinson did fairly well after that to farm strike and protect Woakes. However, it wasn’t to last too long and England, incredibly, lost a Test match despite needing just over 70 runs to win with as many as seven wickets in hand at one point on Day 4.
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