The Oval epic: India's six-run thriller

Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna after the victory today.
Photo credit: ESPNCricInfo / AFP / Getty Images

Sometimes, the most probable, is not what happens.

No one -- barring perhaps the wildest optimist -- would have ever given India a chance of winning the Oval Test today.

No one -- barring perhaps the most depressing pessimist -- would have thought England, who needed just 35 runs with four wickets in hand and a full final day’s play remaining, would lose the match.

To say that the six-run win that India pulled off was dramatic would be an understatement.

England, chasing 374 runs, had reached 339 for six by stumps on Day 4.

HOW THE LAST DAY UNFOLDED

At the start of the final day’s play: 339 for 6; 35 needed for win

Seventh wicket falls at 347; 27 needed for win

Jamie Smith nicked one from Mohammed Siraj that was moving away and keeper Dhruv Jurel took it. Though everyone knew that the ball went off the bat, and the catch was taken clean, umpire Kumar Dharmasena asked everyone to wait and referred it to the third umpire for a video-replay review.

Eighth wicket falls at 354; 20 runs needed for win

Mohammed Siraj struck again, trapping Jamie Overton LBW with a delivery that would have clipped leg stump. Overton reviewed but lost.

Ninth wicket falls at 357; 17 needed for win

Prasidh Krishna bowled a full-length delivery, which Josh Tongue couldn't play, hitting his two stumps dislodging both the bails.

Chris Woakes, who suffered a dislocated shoulder, was forced to come out to bat, with his left arm in a sling and wrapped under his jacket. He received huge cheers from the crowd who applauded his guts and resilience.

Gus Atkinson kept scoring ones and twos and threes but, more importantly, retained the strike even during the change of overs, to keep the injured Woakes at the non-striker’s end. 

Woakes was visibly in pain as he kept running between the wickets. 

Last wicket falls at 367; seven runs to win

But Atkinson’s luck ran out when England needed just seven runs to win. Siraj delivered the knock-out blow sending one crashing into the stumps.

HIGHLIGHTS OF DRAMATIC DAY

A WELL-CONTESTED 5-TEST SERIES

Test matches were once dismissed as five boring days of cricket that almost always ended in a draw. But of late many have bucked that trend and this one was definitely one of the most gripping, fiercely contested ones. The first and the third Tests were won by England; the second and the fifth by India; the fourth was drawn.

For Shubhman Gill this was his debut series as captain, a stint well begun.

MEMORIES OF THE GABBA WIN

This victory was being compared to India successfully chasing 328 runs in the 4th Test match of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, played in Brisbane on 19 January 2021. This victory ended Australia's 32-year undefeated streak at the Gabba, their fortress, and India secured a historic 2-1 series win in Australia.

HIGHTLIGHTS OF THE LAST DAY OF THE GABBA TEST