So this brutal, gruelling series goes the distance, to the fifth day of the fifth Test just like every Test before it. England need 35 runs to win the match and the series; India need three and a half wickets to draw the series. The half is Chris Woakes, who was seen shuffling around the dressing room in full whites late in the day, with his dislocated shoulder in a sling, ready to go into battle should England need him.
England have Jamie Smith and Jamie Overton at the crease but they have Joe Root and Harry Brook to thank for getting to this position, only six sixes the winning line as Brendon McCullum might see it. Chasing 374, the No 1 and No 3-ranked batsmen in the world both scored centuries as they demolished India’s towering lead. They rattled off the milestones at a rate of about one applause per over – Brook’s ton, their 150 partnership, 100 left to win, England’s 300th run – until Brook finally succumbed, charging Akash Deep and spooning the ball to cover.
Brook had stood tall and swung to all corners, making 111 from 98 balls, while Root painted pictures with his cover drive, scoring 105 from 152 balls and celebrating with an emotional nod to his old mentor Graham Thorpe, donning a headband in tribute. But Brook, in particular, never should have had the opportunity. After a summer’s brutal Test cricket, it may all come down to one misjudgement by Mohammed Siraj here on day four.
Shortly before lunch, on 19, Brook flashed a short ball from Prasidh Krishna over his shoulder down to deep backward square leg. Siraj took the catch on the boundary and India’s slip cordon jumped for joy while Krishna stared at Brook with a big grin, arms wide, fists clenched in celebration. But his smile melted away when he noticed Siraj with his head in his hands, the fielder having stumbled over the rope while still clutching the ball like a drunk trying not to spill his beer.
A persistent theme of this series has been the players’ workload, after the ECB crammed five Tests into six weeks before the Hundred begins. This Oval finale has been denied some of the game’s best players: Ben Stokes bowled himself to pieces, and India couldn’t risk Jasprit Bumrah doing the same.
And perhaps the sheer intensity of cricket indirectly did for Siraj, the most overworked bowler on either side. The moment came on the very first ball after he had returned from a brief break in the changing rooms, having hammered through his overs in the morning. Fresh down the Escher’s staircase that is The Oval’s route from pavilion to pitch, Siraj hadn’t yet got his bearings when he made the catch. A step forward and he could have comfortably taken it at chest height, Brook would have walked and the match would have been almost over.
It was apt that it should be Siraj, India’s stirrer-in-chief, never far from the latest spat. This has been the other recurring theme, an animosity between the two sides no doubt partly fueled by exhaustion in which Siraj has revelled. He has been India’s beating heart through this tour, with a contribution measured in more than just maidens and wickets – the most of the series with 21 – but in miles, in hours, in buckets of sweat. Without his contribution the series would have been England’s long ago, and yet his misstep here was a catalyst.
The morning session had begun in India’s favour. Siraj and Krishna hit a relentlessly good length, the ball pitching just outside off with a touch of swing, nibbling off the pitch just enough to trouble the bat’s edge. Ben Duckett was soon on his way after falling into Krishna’s well-laid trap, attempting the straight drive that is his kryptonite and sending a thick edge to third slip.
Joe Root arrived and immediately shared a more convivial chat with his new friend Krishna, but India continued the assault. Siraj was particularly adept at fading one into the pads, earning a couple of big LBW shouts against Root which were turned down. Pope was gone for 27: Siraj nipped one in beautifully with a wobble seam and a few extra miles per hour, trapping the England captain plum on his front pad in a mirror image of first innings dismissal.
England were 106-3 chasing 374, effectively four wickets down due to Woakes’ injury. India were bowling beautifully under cloudy skies, and the result seemed inevitable.
But Siraj’s stumble shifted the mood. England supporters roused from their Sunday morning slumber, gleefully revelling in the replays on the big screen, as Brook cut loose and began carving to all corners to reach 164-3 at lunch. India’s cordon gradually disappeared through the afternoon session as Shubman Gill stationed four men on the boundary to stem the flow.
Brook heaved hard pull shots over mid-wicket for a cluster of fours, as Root waited for bad balls and punished the Indian bowlers with crisp hitting, including one drive so attractive it could have started its own modelling career. Deep chipped in with his own comedy fielding on the boundary, trying to stop the ball with one foot before the other knocked it over the rope for four. Gill turned to spin but Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar were hammered around the ground and soon brought off again.
Yet the late scalps of Root and Jacob Bethell, who chopped on to his own stumps for only five, gave India encouragement before heavy rain brought an early end. India ended the day still believing, but the destiny of this match may have been decided a few hours earlier, by a catch worth six runs. This series will go to the bitter end.
