England collapse as India take fifth Test to tie all-timer series

This summer’s pantomime villain Mohammed Siraj produced another remarkable display with the ball as India pulled off an unlikely comeback on Day Five at The Oval to win the fifth Test.

The right-armed fast bowler took the wickets of Jamie Smith, Jamie Overton, and Gus Atkinson in the short-lived fifth and final day as England chased just 35 runs to take the Test themselves and clinch the series.

Instead, India made light work of the four wickets required to claim victory and tie the series at 2-2, as England’s lower batting order collapsed under pressure.

At the close of play on Day Four, brought forward due to bad light and possible heavy rain, it seemed for all the world as if the hosts would cruise to their target. Yorkshire duo Joe Root and Harry Brook had served up a swashbuckling 195-run partnership as England recovered from 106-3 at lunch, the latter producing a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it century off just 91 deliveries.

India’s comeback partnered with England’s heroic last stand was a fitting end to a gripping series

However, Brook’s rash swing and dismissal on 111 runs began to turn the tide in India’s favour, and the overnight pause gave India’s bowling attack ample time to rest and regroup before ending England’s chase in devastating fashion.

Smith was the first to fall on Monday morning, and the wickets just kept tumbling. Siraj soon repeated his trick on Overton, before Krishna bowled Josh Tongue on 357-9 to cue the entry of all-rounder Chris Woakes to partner Atkinson.

Woakes, who sat out his side’s first innings with a dislocated shoulder, was left with no choice but to play with his left arm in a sling and bat one-handed to save the Test, but never faced a delivery as England’s final partnership produced an inspired display of teamwork to keep Atkinson on strike.

The Surrey man clubbed Siraj for six to move England to within eleven runs of victory, before heroic running from the stricken Woakes achieved the singles needed to move them to within potentially one ball of sealing the series.

The pair’s unlikely resistance was finally broken as Siraj flattened Atkinson’s off stump with a perfect yorker, and wheeled away to deliver one final Cristiano Ronaldo-style celebration to delight the sea of Indian fans packed inside The Oval.

India’s comeback partnered with England’s heroic last stand was a fitting end to a gripping series which started seven weeks ago in Leeds.

It was opener Ben Duckett who starred as the hosts took the first Test at Headingley, as a rather makeshift Indian side struggled to keep up with England’s scoring depth in their first test under new captain Shubman Gill.

Despite Gill and co. making a false start to life without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, two of India’s global stars who retired from red-ball cricket in May, their new captain delivered an inspired display with the bat in the second Test at Edgbaston to level the series.

An Ashes series win in Australia this winter appears quite the ask

England responded by taking the third Test at Lord’s, boosted by the return of fast bowler Jofra Archer after a four-year absence from Test duty. In a largely low-scoring encounter, it was the fiery clashes between Gill and England opener Zak Crawley which wrote most of the headlines, with both sides accusing the other of abusing time-wasting tactics.

After posting a mammoth 669-run first innings in the hotly-awaited fourth Test in Manchester, England’s bowling attack struggled to disrupt a stubborn Indian batting order led by Gill, Washington Sundar, and Ravindra Jadeja to capitalise on their earlier scoring. The fourth Test duly declared a draw, an already-classic series went right down to the wire at The Oval.

England red-ball captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum will rue plenty of missed opportunities to win a first major Test series of both their tenures, with inconsistent performances with the ball and at both ends of the batting order meaning an Ashes series win in Australia this winter appears quite the ask.